Attitudes concerning water fluoridation among Swedish dentists in 1975

The purpose of the investigation was to assess the attitudes concerning water fluoridation among dentists actively engaged in the practice of dentistry in Sweden. A 25% random sample was selected from the aforementioned population of 6,669 dentists. A questionnaire was sent out by mail in 1974/75. The rate of return was 93%. A 99% confidence estimate indicated that 60-66% of Swedish dentists approved a water fluoridation; 58% would welcome fluoridation of their own community water supplies; 56% expressed a willingness to sign a petition to the Parliament requesting that water fluoridation again be permitted. Approximately 11% were not certain about the effectiveness of water fluoridation in preventing dental decay. One-third of the respondents were uncertain about the safety of the technical procedures; 20% were undecided concerning the possibility of combining procedures for topical application of fluorides with water fluoridation, and 15% stated that topical application of fluorides could not be combined with water fluoridation. More than 19% were not able to report the F-content of their own community water supplies.