Southampton City Council votes today on whether to support controversial plans to add fluoride to the city’s water supply in a bid to boost dental health.  

In 2007 more than 520 Southampton children had to undergo general anaesthetics to have a total of 2,900 decayed teeth removed. So the city’s Primary Care Trust (PCT) wants to increase levels of the mineral in tap water as it believes it will help improve the health of its residents.

Millions of people in England already drink fluoridated water. In the 1950s pilot schemes were carried out in the UK after the US began adding fluoride to the drinking water in some cities.

Today, most of the West Midlands, large parts of the North East and parts of the East Midlands, East and North West have fluoridated water.

But the Southampton plans have sparked fierce debate from campaigners who say the enforced medication could be dangerous to people’s long-term health.

A leading Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Southampton has already expressed his support for the PCT dental scheme. 

Professor Keith Fox said: “There is considerable evidence that tooth decay in children is related to social class, and water fluoridation reduces inequalities in dental caries between high and low social groups.

“My professional assessment is that water fluoridation at the proposed level of 1ppm (parts per million) will be of great social benefit. I therefore strongly support this proposal.”

However, the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Fluoridation strongly disagree. They say there is evidence that around one in two people in fluoridated areas had mottled teeth, caused by an overdose of fluoride.

The group also believe that implementing forced fluoridation is ethically wrong and that all people should be allowed a choice.

So, what’s the answer?

Do think younger generations need all the help they can get to keep healthy? Or is the nanny state’s grip growing ever tighter on our civil rights? Have your say right here.

Hugh Kirby is joined by John Spottiswoode from Hampshire Against Fluoride and Public Health Director Andrew Mortimore to discuss fluoridation. Watch the report here.   

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the introduction of our National Health System. Introduced in 1948 by Welshman Aneurin Bevan under Clement Attlee’s government, the NHS was born out of an ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth. Bevan decided the best way to do this would be a national system run by the Department of Health. Important health progressions such as the first heart transplant, the first successful birth of sextuplets and the launch of the organ donor register would not have been possible without the NHS and its tireless staff.

ITV Local Meridian is celebrating the anniversary all this week by interviewing NHS staff and patients who have been through the healthcare system. There will also be interviews with members of the public who remember what life was like before the NHS was introduced. Head over to this page where you’ll find interviews with Health Secretary Alan Johnson, surgeon Merv Rees, comparisons between the French health service and our own NHS and much more besides.

We’d also love to hear of your experiences with the NHS, both good and bad, and from either side of the stethoscope, so let us know what 60 years of the NHS mean to you!