Research at Health Quest

March, 2012 - Research in Our Community - Sixty-six years ago, David Ast and Edward Schlesinger, a dentist and physician respectively published a ground-breaking research study that took place in Newburgh and Kingston New York. In 1945, based on epidemiological evidence, the researchers from the NYS Department of Health began a study to determine whether the addition of fluorine to the one of the two fluorine-deficient cities’ water supply would reduce the rate of caries in children over a ten-year period. Newburgh’s water supply received 1.0-1.2 ppm of fluorine while Kingston’s did not.

At the end of the study, the researchers concluded “The comprehensive analysis of the Newburgh-Kingston Caries-Flourine Study after 10 years of experience…demonstrates conclusively two important facts - fluoridation is effective in reducing dental caries and it is a safe public health practice.”1

1. Ast DB, Schlesinger, ER, The Conclusion of a Ten-Year Study of Water Fluoridation; Am J Pub Health 46(3): 265-271; 1956