Cambridge volunteer dentist Penelope Roberts has removed mouthfuls of rotting teeth from children, travelled New Zealand and the Pacific islands on mercy missions, practised at the world-renowned Paddington Hospital in the UK and provided life-changing dentistry for more than 30 years.
Kane Titchener, left, and US lawyer Michael Connett at the Fluoride Free meeting in Cambridge Town Hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
But at last week’s Fluoride Risks meeting in Cambridge Town Hall, she was a lone voice arguing the benefits of community water fluoridation.
Penelope Roberts
In a statement the Ministry of Health said it does not attend every event related to the topic, but health officials do meet with local authorities.
The crowd heckled her, shouted her down, suggested she should listen or leave. She left the meeting visibly distressed and was again heckled outside.
She told The News the meeting should have been called “Truth Decay”.
“He really manipulated the findings and used only the sections of the scientists’ testimonies that backed up his argument. All the evidence he was using was for high fluoride situations.”
US lawyer Michael Connett mentioned four times parts per million at one point which was nowhere near what would be in Cambridge’s water supply, she said.
Fluoride is added at 0.7 ppm in the United States and New Zealand and at those levels there was no conclusive evidence of any effect on children’s IQ. None of Connett’s studies were done in the US, said Roberts.
A section of the crowd at the Michael Connett Fluoride Free meeting in the Cambridge Town Hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
“There was so much manipulation of the evidence and effects to get his court ruling and to make his argument sound plausible. He really knows how to manipulate an audience with half-truths.”
Roberts practised as a dentist in the UK, including Paddington Hospital – founded in 1845 as a voluntary hospital for the sick and poor in north London – Sydney and New Zealand. She was a dental lecturer but resigned from that to volunteer with Youth with a Mission Ships Aotearoa and Trinity Lands Ltd – a charitable trust which owns farms, orchards and forestry in South Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
“This is a first world country, but we have third world oral health,” she said.
Trinity provides free fillings and extractions to eligible residents around New Zealand.
Penelope Roberts, left, and Helen Wilson performing dental work on Ben Cavu, a Fijian crew member. Photo Caleb Ansley, Youth with a Mission Ships Aotearoa (YSA).
Roberts says it breaks her heart to see the state of New Zealanders’ teeth.
Something as simple as community water fluoridation – where fluoride is added to the water supply at a level recommended for preventing cavities – would reduce oral health inequities, she said.
Ministry of Health Public Health Agency deputy director-general Dr Andrew Old said over 60 years of international and New Zealand research shows community water fluoridation is a safe, effective and affordable way to improve oral health.
“Last year, the Ministry of Health published a new evidence review of the risks and benefits of community water fluoridation, taking into account the latest international evidence. The review found community water fluoridation provides ongoing clear benefits even when alternative forms of fluoride (such as fluoride toothpaste) are available,” said Old.
The dental outreach team in Rabi Island, northern Fiji, from left, Nathanael Herman, Shika, Penelope Roberts, Lepani. Photo Caleb Ansley, Youth with a Mission Ships Aotearoa (YSA).
Also last year, a University of Queensland study found no link between exposure to water fluoridation as a young child and negative cognitive development.
Professor Loc Do from UQ’s School of Dentistry said the IQ scores of 357 people who had taken part in the 2012–2014 National Child Oral Health Study were assessed by registered psychologists to see if their exposure to fluoride as a young child impacted their brain development.
The study showed the participants, now aged 16-26, had IQ scores 0.28 points higher on average than those without.
Roberts tried to make the point at the meeting that her experience showed the education of a child with decaying teeth suffered more than children with health teeth.
There were no Ministry of Health representatives at the meeting but previously they have said Cambridge was chosen because of its population, the “likely savings” of adding fluoride to the water and the “significant improvements” it would make to oral health outcomes in the community.
See: Council told to join fight
- Mary Anne Gill is a former Waikato District Health Board communications director who took part in a successful campaign which resulted in 2014 with Hamilton adding fluoride to its water supply.
Kane Titchener checks in with Penelope Roberts during the meeting and confirmed she was a dentist who volunteers for mercy missions. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Penelope Roberts, front centre, a lone voice at the Michael Connett Fluoride Free meeting in the Cambridge Town Hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
