Fluoridation Historical Marker

Chase F Klinesteker DDS - 2010

The Michigan Historical Marker, recognizing the beginning of water fluoridation, was dedicated on September 30, 2010, at the Monroe Avenue Water Filtration Plant. The marker, located at the Filtration Plant reads:

The Beginning of Water Fluoridation

On January 25, 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the world to add fluoride to its public water supply. The city, along with the U.S. Public Health Service, the Michigan Department of Health, and the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, began a ten-year study to determine the effectiveness of fluoride in the prevention of tooth decay. The city was chosen as a test site because of its large population of school-age children; its closeness to Lake Michigan, which is mostly free of natural fluoride; and its proximity to Muskegon, which served as the control city. By 1955 the study had shown a sixty-five percent reduction in tooth decay and led to the adoption of fluoridation as an accepted public health measure.