Newly appointed community and protective services chair Coun. Carra says he wants to ensure a "respectful tone" is maintained throughout the public hearing on community water fluoridation today. #yyccc
...Aaaand there's actually a bit more presenting from the expert panel that's been assembled before we get to public hearing. The CEO of the Alex Community Health Centre Joy Bowen-Eyre is speaking now. #yyccc
The Alex runs a dental bus that serves vulnerable children at "in need schools." Half of the kids they see have "active, untreated" decay, according to Bowen-Eyre. #yyccc
Here comes the public hearing. "This is going to be a long day, and we thank everyone for their time and commitment," Carra says. #yyccc
McLaren says she's concerned about moves that take away efforts at universal primary prevention. Her study compared trends over time in children's dental health between Edmonton and Calgary after Calgary stopped water fluoridation. #yyccc
The president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association Dr. Paul Boucher is speaking now. The AMA supports water fluoridation, he says. #yyccc
A medical resident is speaking, notes physicians are often hesitant to "get political" but they're making an exception today because there are "dangerous consequences" to denying Calgarians fluoridated water. #yyccc
Juliet Guichon is speaking -- she's long been an advocate for community water fluoridation. "You know that children are suffering," she says, adding that evidence needs to be strongly emphasized against "speculative" evidence. #yyccc
A pediatric dentist in #yyc is speaking now. She says she sees children every day who have "rampant decay," so much so that they need multiple appointments and sedation to be able to go through the treatment. Some kids younger than five need multiple root canals and extractions.
Coun. Woolley says he's picked up children from social housing units in his ward and taken them to his own dentist on "numerous occasions." He wonders about jurisdictional issues with the fluoridation conversation, given provincial "downloading" of services onto cities. #yyccc
Guichon says there's "only one taxpayer" and her hope is that levels of government work budgeting issues out and don't make children suffer in the meantime. #yyccc
Coun. Farrell asks about the AMA's advocacy role for better dental care, since it's exorbitantly expensive for most people. #yyccc
Numerous doctors have been giving presentations to #yyccc today. A pediatric infectious disease specialist is up now, she's advocating for restoring community water fluoridation.
Since 2011, when fluoride was removed from Calgary's water, she says there's been a 700% increase in dental infections that need to be treated by IV antibiotics at the Alberta Children's Hospital. Half of the infections in kids 5 and younger. #yyccc
Coming up now are members of Safe Water Calgary, an anti-fluoride group.
One speaker is picking apart Lindsay McLaren's study on comparing tooth decay in Edmonton and Calgary since Calgary stopped community water fluoridation #yyccc
One speaker says water fluoridation should go in the "museum" of failed public health interventions. #yyccc
President-elect of the Alberta Dental College is up, says he's lived in Calgary since the 80s, so he's seen two plebiscites on fluoride in the city (there was one in '89 and again in '98, both approved fluoridation) #yyccc
"There is no fluoride zombie apocalypse," says Dr. Bruce Yaholnitsky, pointing to other cities that have had fluoridated water for 70+ years. #yyccc
