Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller wants a government mandate because he's fed up with government mandates. This time, it's about fluoride in water.

On Wednesday, Miller called on the Texas Legislature to ban fluoridation of public water, saying he's been convinced by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the dangers of fluoride. Miller sees fluoridation as an attack on personal freedom. "I don't want Big Brother telling me what to do," Miller said. "Government has forced this on us for too long."

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There is science here which we should take seriously, and then there is Sid Miller, who deserves some questioning.

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The science is clear: Since the 1960s, Americans have been healthier and more prosperous because of the fluoridation of water.

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Before fluoride was widely available in public water or toothpaste, the average U.S. adult had 18 decayed, missing or filled teeth, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the 1960s. And each of those cavities likely promoted other health complications. Poor dental health often leads to other health issues, not to mention problems in education, workforce and productivity. A 2012 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that students with recent dental pain were four times more likely to have low grades than those without. And a Texas study from 2000 found that water fluoridation saves the state Medicaid program $24 per child, per year.

Fluoridation of public water supplies has clearly been a good thing. However, like most scientific conclusions, that clarity comes with some caveats. A few studies, most notably a report from the National Institutes of Health last year, found a correlation between high amounts of fluoride and low IQ in children. The link appeared to exist in people who took in very high amounts of fluoride -- more than twice the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The CDC recommends fluoride concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. A spokesperson for Dallas Water Utilities told us Dallas water adheres to that recommendation. The link to IQ was found in people who were exposed to fluoride concentrations of 1.5 milligrams per liter or higher.

Anti-fluoridians like Miller and Kennedy point out that we've added the mineral to other products, such as toothpaste, since we've added it to water, and there's no data about whether the total intake of fluoride from all products is reaching dangerously high levels for some Americans. That's a reasonable concern and a place to call for more research, as the NIH study did. It's not the basis for throwing the fluoride baby out with the bathwater, especially considering that doing so will likely threaten low-income Americans most.

Even more salient, some communities that have abandoned fluoridation have reversed that decision in recent years.

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The city of Calgary ended fluoridation in 2011, after which tooth decay rose sharply and dental infections that needed to be treated by IV antibiotics increased by 700% at the Alberta Children's Hospital, according to reporting by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. There was a public outcry, and the city voted to resume fluoridation in 2021.

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In Buffalo, N.Y., officials stopped adding fluoride to water in 2015. Parents responded with a class-action lawsuit, seeking reimbursement for dental surgeries their children had to endure. The city returned to fluoridation last year.

But for Miller and Kennedy, those cautionary tales don't go far because, to them, this issue isn't about public health. It's about ideological purity. Among the ascendant tribe of MAGA faithful every government action must be opposed simply because it is government action. And the method for opposing it is with government action. It's silly. And it won't make America healthier.

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