LAST week Public Health England published a report on what it considers to be the health benefits of adding fluoride to local water supplies, especially in areas like Southampton where dental health problems are stark.

As chair of the City’s Health and Wellbeing Board I welcome local debate on what our investment priorities should be in tackling our major health inequality challenges.

Big cuts in Council budgets make this even more important in places like Southampton.

As a regular reader of the Daily Echo I am acutely aware of the views of some local people who are strongly opposed to fluoridation as a solution to our dental health problems.

Any decision about fluoridating the local water supply needs to be informed by the best available evidence and Southampton’s Health and Wellbeing Board will be a firm advocate for such an approach.

To help us with this I pose ten questions for local people to consider.

1. Does Southampton currently experience high levels of poor dental health, particularly in respect of children from more disadvantaged backgrounds?

2. Can addition of fluoride to the local water supply have a positive impact in reducing the City’s dental health problems?

3. Are there any examples from other regions where fluoride has been introduced to the local water supply where this had positive dental health benefits?

4. Can fluoridation be added to the local water supply with negligible risks to public safety?

5. Can fluoridation be undertaken at a relatively low cost to the taxpayer in comparison with other prevention schemes?

6. Should savings from reduced spending on dental health treatment focus on other important local public health priorities (obesity, teenage pregnancy, isolation among older people, and helping people give up smoking)?

7. Do proposals for fluoridation command widespread public and political support?

8. Do fluoridation proposals meet with the Government’s legal requirements?

9. Are people satisfied that a considerable amount of time and public money has already been spent on local consultation on proposals for fluoridation?

10. Is fluoridation supported by the majority of internationally-recognised organisations concerned with public health?

CLLR DAVE SHIELDS, Cabinet member for health and adult social care, Southampton City Council.