The Manx government is to look again at the benefits of putting fluoride in our tap water.

Public health chiefs are to be tasked with researching the possibility of fluoridation to help reduce worrying levels of tooth decay, particularly in children.

Plans to fluoridate the water supply were abandoned in 2008 following a public consultation.

A survey of 1,000 island residents found the majority was opposed to the move, despite it being championed by various professional health bodies.

But now it is back on the agenda following a Council of Ministers’ response to a Tynwald scrutiny committee into children’s oral health.

The social affairs policy review committee report, due to be debated at the May sitting of Tynwald, says dental decay remains the number one cause of hospital admissions for five- to nine-year olds.

The proportion of five-year-olds found to have experienced tooth decay has fallen however – from 27.83% in 2019 to 17.1% in 2021.

Seven recommendations have been made by the scrutiny committee to reduce that number further.

Those recommendations include updating the implementation plan for the Oral Health Strategy 2021-26, introducing the ‘Smile of Mann’ programme to nurseries, reducing levels of decay in children who aren’t registered with an NHS dentist and undertaking a dental care campaign.

The Council of Ministers has accepted the principle of the recommendation, but has also proposed making some changes.

It want to task the Public Health department to research water fluoridation, with the results of that research due to be considered by CoMin in December this year.

It will consider the effects this may have on the population, to what extent it would reduce levels of tooth decay and whether it would be a more efficient and effective way of preventing tooth decay in children than targeted fluoride varnish application.

That report, as well as CoMin’s response, would then go to Tynwald, with it due to be published in February 2024.

Health Minister Lawrie Hooper said: ‘The health of our island residents is of utmost importance and in particular, protecting the island’s children and their future.

‘We recognise that all children need to be given equitable access to treatments, both preventative and remedial, in order for them to thrive and for us to be able to provide services which are sustainable for the future.’

The scrutiny report says Manx Care should address the limited availability of access to NHS dentists, particularly for children.

None of the island’s NHS dentists currently have any vacancies for adults or children.

In October last year there were 2,086 patients on a waiting list for an NHS dentist, 784 of whom were children.

Read information about fluoride and fluoride in drinking water from the NHS in the UK here.