Dental company stocks jump amid RFK Jr.’s health claims about fluoride

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Dental company stocks jump amid RFK Jr.’s health claims about fluoride

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s concerns about the health effects of fluoride may already be helping some Americans — investors in dental services companies. 

Shares in Dentsply Sirona, Envista, Henry Schein Patterson Companies, and other providers of dental products are jumping, with Wall Street ******** that a potential push by the incoming Trump administration to remove fluoride from the nation’s drinking water could spur demand for the companies’ services. 

Kennedy, tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said on social media just ahead of the November 5 presidential election that Trump would rid fluoride from the public water supply on his first day in office. Kennedy, a noted vaccine skeptic, has

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

fluoride as an “industrial waste” and linked it to arthritis, neurological deficiencies in children and other serious health problems. 

“The thought here is RFK will bring to HHS a voice that is in favor of reducing, or eliminating, the amount of fluoridation that is added to drinking water,” Don Bilson, Gordon Haskett’s head of event-driven research, told investors in a report, according to 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. “This will, in turn, lead to an acceleration of tooth decay and more dental visits.”

Dental experts have largely refuted such claims. Dr. Aaron Yancoskie, associate dean of academic affairs at Touro College of Dental Medicine, told “CBS Mornings Plus” on November 13 that there is “excellent, solid data going back 75 years showing that fluoride is both safe, and it’s extremely effective at decreasing dental decay, that is, cavities, by strengthening the enamel of our teeth.”

Why fluoride is added to water systems and why some want to get rid of it

03:08

According to 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, some studies have linked fluoride exposure among pregnant women to a higher risk of childhood neurobehavioral problems and lower IQs, leading experts to call for further research.

Fluoride is a mineral that keeps teeth healthy and reduces cavities by protecting them against bacteria that produces potentially damaging acid, according to the U.S. Centers for ******** Control and Prevention. To prevent tooth decay, the U.S. has been adding a small quantity of fluoride to water since the 1950s.

Stocks have surged since Trump won a second term in the White House, with investors buoyed by his pledges during the campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris to cut corporate taxes and eliminate red tape for businesses. 

Sara Moniuszko

contributed to this report.

Alain Sherter

Alain Sherter is a senior managing editor with CBS News. He covers business, economics, money and workplace issues for CBS MoneyWatch.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Dental #company #stocks #jump #RFK #Jr.s #health #claims #fluoride

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up