(The Center Square) – Taking fluoride out of public water systems across the country would result in millions more rotten teeth and cost $9.8 billion over five years, according to a new study. 

The study, published in JAMA Health Forum, found that if all 50 states removed fluoride from public water systems, kids would develop 25.4 million more decayed teeth over five years. The study noted that “tooth decay would disproportionately affect publicly insured and uninsured children compared to those with private dental insurance.”

After 10 years, the total number of decayed teeth would increase to 53.8 million at a cost of $19.4 billion, according to the study.

The simulation model used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data of 8,484 participants.

It noted that “excessive fluoride exposure can cause mottled discoloration of the teeth” and that fluoride “becomes a neurotoxin at high levels.” The study further stated that “natural sources of drinking water with high levels of fluoride are associated with lower IQ scores.”

The study also noted that the U.S. National Toxicology Program released a monograph that concluded that drinking water with elevated fluoride levels has neurotoxic effects. That monograph “affirmed a lack of evidence for neurocognitive effects with fluoride exposure less than 1.5 parts per million, more than twice the amount of fluoridation recommended in public water systems by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The study comes as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seeks to remove fluoride from public water systems. In April, Kennedy said he would study the issue and make new recommendations on fluoride use in public water systems.

The American Dental Association criticized that plan.

“As dentists, we see the direct consequences fluoride removal has on our patients and it’s a real tragedy when policymakers’ decisions hurt vulnerable kids and adults in the long term,” ADA President Brett Kessler, D.D.S., said. “Blindly calling for a ban on fluoridated water hurts people, costs money, and will ultimately harm our economy.”

The JAMA study concluded that “despite the potential harms of excessive fluoride exposure, fluoridation at safe levels offers both individual and societal benefits that would be at risk.” 

The study also noted the case of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. The city added fluoride to its public water system in 1991. The Calgary City Council voted in 2011 to remove fluoride. However, the city reversed course in March after an increase in cavities and a public vote. In the 2021 Civic General Election, 62% of voters supported fluoridation.

Calgary plans to reintroduce fluoride in drinking water starting at the end of June. To do so, it had to spend about $28.1 million on infrastructure improvements at Calgary’s two water treatment plants. Calgary expects to pay additional annual operating and maintenance costs of $1 million at both plants. It noted that “this translates into less than 10 cents per person, per month.”

After Calgary stopped fluoridating water in 2011, researchers at the University of Calgary conducted a study on tooth decay in a large sample of Calgary children and compared them to children in Edmonton, where fluoridation started in 1967 and remains in place.

“The research confirmed the removal of fluoride from drinking water had a negative impact on children’s oral health, where a significantly higher number of cavities were found amongst Calgary children compared to Edmonton children,” the city’s website noted.

Utah recently became the first state to ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water. Utah lawmakers passed a measure that prohibits the addition of fluoride to public drinking water in Utah. That went into place on May 7, 2025.

Kennedy has urged other states to follow suit.

About 72% of municipal water systems in the U.S. provided fluoridated water in 2022, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 12 states have laws mandating that communities of a certain size fluoridate the public water system, including California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio and South Dakota, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures. It noted at least 12 states have introduced bills prohibiting or repealing provisions related to the addition of fluoride in public water systems. Utah and Florida were the first states such legislation, according to the report.

(The Center Square) – Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being returned from a Salvadoran maximum security prison to the United States, where he will face criminal charges.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced late Friday afternoon that the suspected MS-13 gang member had been indicted by a grand jury in Tennessee on May 21, charging him with “alien smuggling” and “conspiracy to commit alien smuggling.”

“The grand jury found that over the past nine years Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring. They found this was his full-time job – not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women,” Bondi said. “Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador.”

Bondi added that the grand jury found that he was involved in “over 100” operations smuggling “thousands of illegal aliens.”

Controversy has surrounded Abrego Garcia since March, when the Trump administration mistakenly deported him to El Salvador due to an administrative error. Prior to that, Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland and had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in MS-13 in 2019, after immigrating illegally to the United States as a teenager with his parents around 2011. Officials prepared to deport Abrego Garcia then, but an immigration judge granted him “withholding of removal,” believing his life would be in danger if he were returned to El Salvador. 

But it was a later traffic stop in Tennessee that led to Abrego Garcia’s charges that were announced Friday. The Center Square previously reported that Garcia was stopped by Tennessee troopers for speeding in 2022. He was driving an SUV with eight passengers, and one of the officers believed that he was smuggling them, remarking that he was “hauling these people for money.”

Despite these brush-ups with the law and his wife filing for a protection order against him in 2020, Abrego Garcia was never charged with anything in the U.S. until the freshly announced indictment. 

A federal court judge in April issued an order saying the administration had to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., and the Supreme Court partially upheld that order days later, ordering the administration to “effectuate” his return. Despite acknowledging its error, the administration has refused – until Friday – to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, claiming it possessed ample evidence that he was a dangerous man and a “convicted member” of MS-13. 

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen visited Abrego Garcia in prison in El Salvador in April, and several other Democratic lawmakers also previously traveled there to advocate for his return, arguing that he was denied due process and the Trump administration was flouting judicial orders.

(The Center Square) – A group of House Republicans has called on Gov. Greg Abbott to veto a Democratic-authored bill related to expanding state-funded loan repayment programs for a range of mental health professionals.

SB 646 filed by state Sen. Royce, West, D-Dallas, would amend state law to expand and increase financial assistance provided through the Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program.

It would increase the amount of loan repayments for physician psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, professional counselors, advanced practice registered nurses and a wide range of licensed social workers and counselors, according to the bill analysis. It also would increase the amount of awards to those who speak languages other than English and for those who practice in rural areas. It also allocates $1 million to the MHPLRP for advertising.

The majority of House Republicans, 58, voted against it. Thirty-four of them called on the governor to veto the bill.

The bill “expands a Biden style student loan repayment program,” House Republicans, led by Rep. Brent Money, wrote in a letter to the governor. “58 republican members voted against this bill and in opposition to student loan repayment programs. There are many laudable things that the legislature funds and expands during the session but few that received such significant opposition as SB 646. We humbly ask that you veto this legislation and in so doing encourage the legislature to make ‘loan repayment programs’ and their expansion something we have to avoid in future sessions.”

West argued the program was necessary to help more mental health professionals enter the field “given Texas’ stark shortage of mental health professionals.” The existing program isn’t helping meeting the shortfall, he says, which “remains critical.”

Of Texas’ 254 counties, 168 don’t ‘have any licensed psychiatrists; 147 don’t have any psychologists; 91 don’t have licensed clinical social workers; 78 don’t have licensed chemical dependency counselors; 41 don’t have licensed professional counselors; 211 don’t have psychiatric-mental health advanced practice registered nurses (as of 2019 data) and 148 school districts don’t have any school counselors, according to the bill analysis.

Earlier in the week, a group of 41 House Republicans called on Abbott to veto a bill they argue will only help increase property taxes, The Center Square reported.

SB 974, filed by state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, passed the legislature with bipartisan support. It would allow school board members and school district employees to serve on appraisal review boards, the entities responsible for assessing property tax appraisal challenges.

Those who voted against it argue it “establishes a clear conflict of interest … An employee who is paid by a school district should not be involved in the processes of determining the value of property that is taxed to generate funding for the district.”

Abbott previously vetoed similar legislation in the last legislative session.