Community water fluoridation: attitudes and opinions from the New Zealand Oral Health Survey

Abstract

Abstract Objective: To report the responses of adult participants in the 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey (NZOHS) to questions about community water fluoridation (CWF). Methods: The study used quantitative data from the NZOHS. All adult participants aged 18 years and over in the nationally representative NZOHS sample were included in the study (n=3475). Univariate analysis and multinominal logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between variables. Results: Overall, 57.7% of respondents thought that there were dental benefits to adding fluoride to drinking water and 31.7% responded that they did not know. More than 45% of respondents did not know whether there were health risks from adding fluoride to drinking water. Overall, 42.0% of respondents were strongly or somewhat in favour of CWF. Conclusion and implications: People in the Māori, Pacific and Asian ethnic groups, from the two most deprived quintiles, with no education after high school and who brushed their teeth less than twice a day expressed significantly greater uncertainty about CWF than other population groups. This study suggests further research is required to gain a greater understanding of health literacy about CWF and the cultural appropriateness of CWF in NZ.

Keywords

• community water fluoridation
• public opinion
• attitudes
• New Zealand