Only three Algoma municipalities have fluoridated water, said health unit officials at last week’s board of health meeting
Adding fluoride to municipal water could help with tooth decay rates across the Algoma region – but that’s not a simple task here in Sault Ste. Marie.
The idea was struck down three times in referendums dating back to 1968, and today there are only three communities – Elliot Lake, Blind River, and Wawa – that have municipal fluoridated water across the region.
“Fluoridation of the community water supply is the single most effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay,” said Nicole Lindahl, manager of the oral health team at Algoma Public Health.
In order to introduce fluoride to local water, another referendum would need to take place – a task that board of health member Sonny Spina said would be no easy feat during last week’s board meeting.
“It would have to be a referendum on the election ballot,” said Sonny Spina. “It creates a huge difficulty to do it again – very difficult.”
The discussion on fluoride took place following a presentation on the region’s dental health, which showed that over a quarter of Algoma’s junior and senior kindergarten students had at least some symptoms of dental caries – or tooth decay – during the 2024-2025 school year.
Of those children with symptoms, five per cent required urgent or essential care, with another 11 per cent needing non-urgent care.
Screenings were carried out by Algoma Public Health at local schools in conjunction with Healthy Smiles Ontario, a provincial program that provides preventive, core, and emergency services to eligible low-income youth under 18 across the province.
In the 2024-25 school year, the health unit screened over 5,300 students and provided fillings, extractions, and more across 110 appointments between September and December 2025.
Beyond the lack of fluoridated water, those screenings play a big role in a region that has fewer dentists than many other Canadian jurisdictions.
“Some of the contributing factors to oral health in Algoma include a low availability of dental services compared to Ontario and what’s available in Canada overall,” Lindahl said.
For every dentist in Algoma there are 1,961 people, a figure that drops to one per 1,230 across Ontario, Lindahl said.
While private dental clinics can offer Healthy Smiles Ontario services, the health unit carries out screenings in communities across the region and offers services at its Sault Ste. Marie office – which includes two fully-equipped dental suites.
Several board members asked about the fluoride issue during discussion – including Luc Morissette, who wondered why it’s beneficial when many toothpastes contain it.
“The great thing about community water fluoridation is that anybody who drinks the municipal water supply is receiving the benefits of fluoride at that point in time,” Lindahl said.
“We don’t have to rely on the ability of people to afford it, of people using the appropriate toothpaste, using the toothpaste appropriately, all of those different pieces that could cause a barrier to using fluoride, so it’s a more equitable approach.”