Kalamazoo fluoridation

[DouglasOfCalifornia]

Back in the '60s, I was browsing through a buddy’s sociology textbook and came across an anecdote that went something like this . . . .

In Kalamazoo, Mich., city officials announced that the city’s water would be fluoridated beginning on a certain date. On that date, hospitals and doctors’ offices were inundated with people complaining of various ailments that they attributed to the fluoridated water. Unbeknownst to them, however, was that because of a last-minute mechanical problem, the water utility had not begun the fluoridation.

Can anybody confirm that this actually happened? I have done a Web search for Kalamazoo+fluoridation, but all I’ve been able to document is that Kalamazoo was the first U.S. city to fluoridate its water, and that it did so in 1945.

[plasticbryan]

I was a resident from '68 to '74, but I don’t recall the event to which you refer. Of course I was only 3 years old in '68, so my memory isn’t that sharp.
I’ll check with my mother and get back to you.

[slortar]

I’m living in Kalamazoo and have a coworker whose husband used to work in that field here. If I remember I’ll bring it up on break and see what she knows.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Er, this website says Grand Rapids was the first U.S. city to fluoridate its water, and also that a landmark study of fluoridation was done in Grand Rapids.

http://www.nidr.nih.gov/news/fluoride.htm

1944, Dean got his wish. That year, the City Commission of Grand Rapids, Michigan-after numerous discussions with researchers from the PHS, the Michigan Department of Health, and other public health organizations-voted to add fluoride to its public water supply the following year. In 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the world to fluoridate its drinking water.The Grand Rapids water fluoridation study was originally sponsored by the U.S. Surgeon General, but was taken over by the NIDR shortly after the Institute’s inception in 1948. During the 15-year project, researchers monitored the rate of tooth decay among Grand Rapids’ almost 30,000 schoolchildren…

People in Grand Rapids think so, too.

http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us/departments/clerk/minutes/1995/8-22-95.asp

OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
CITY COMMISSION
OF THE
CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

Regular Session, Tuesday Afternoon, 2:00 p.m.

August 22, 1995
*60932 Com. Williams, supported by Com. Worst, moved adoption of the following resolution under the Consent Agenda. Resolved that co-sponsorship of development of a poster to commemorate 50 years of fluoridation in Grand Rapids is hereby authorized in the amount of $2,500, with said expenditure to be charged to the appropriate budgetary account (591-43-961- 10-11000-880).

Other Michiganders think so, too.

http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0001/Sep05_00/7.htm

1945 – The School collaborates with city officials in Grand Rapids to launch a water fluoridation program that ushers in one of the most successful public health projects in history.

http://detnews.com/millennium/990913/main/main.htm

Before fluoride, half of the population was without teeth by age 25 and tooth decay was a primary reason for rejection from the armed services. Still, some Grand Rapids residents balked when U-M researchers wanted to add fluoride their water in 1945.

“Some people thought it was an invasion of their rights and a communist plot,” said retired dentist Ray Stevens, 79, of Grand Rapids.

Ten years later, researchers deemed fluoridation a success after the cavity rate in Grand Rapids dropped 60 percent compared with control city Muskegon.

If this is the link you’re referring to as your cite for Kalamazoo’s being the first U.S. city to fluoridate their water:

http://www.pcsortho.org/members/ed/bullsu00hist.html

Although dentistry hailed the advent of the country’s first fluoridation (Kalamazoo, Mich.) in 1945,

I’d venture to suggest that they simply got it wrong and put in “Kalamazoo” where they meant to put “Grand Rapids”.
Nobody else on the Web that I can find credits Kalamazoo with this, just Grand Rapids.

[DouglasOfCalifornia]

If this is the link you’re referring to as your cite for Kalamazoo’s being the first U.S. city to fluoridate their water:

http://www.pcsortho.org/members/ed/bullsu00hist.html

Although dentistry hailed the advent of the country’s first fluoridation (Kalamazoo, Mich.) in 1945,

I’d venture to suggest that they simply got it wrong and put in “Kalamazoo” where they meant to put “Grand Rapids”.
Nobody else on the Web that I can find credits Kalamazoo with this, just Grand Rapids. **

Yeah, that’s the one. Thank you very much for the correction.