Americans Trust ADA Over RFK Jr. on Fluoride

Posted: June 22, 2026

Americans Trust ADA Over RFK Jr. on Fluoride, Survey Finds

Edited by Dentaltown staff

A nationally representative survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that Americans are far more likely to trust the American Dental Association than Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for information about the health effects of fluoride in drinking water.

Among the 1,639 U.S. adults surveyed, 74% said they were confident the ADA provides trustworthy information on fluoride’s health effects, compared with 34% who said the same of Kennedy. A majority, 65%, said they were not confident in Kennedy as a source, including 42% who were “not at all confident.”

Public opinion on fluoridation itself was more divided. Some 43% of adults said they favor adding fluoride to public drinking water, while 26% opposed it and 30% neither favored nor opposed it. Asked specifically about their own community, 43% would favor local fluoridation, 23% would oppose it, and 34% were neutral.

Supporters of the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement, who made up roughly a quarter of those surveyed, were more likely to trust Kennedy: 74% expressed confidence in him, while 68% also expressed confidence in the ADA. Among those who do not identify with MAHA, 83% trusted the ADA.

On fluoride’s overall public health impact, 42% of adults said it has a positive effect, 17% said it has a negative effect, and 35% were unsure. Among MAHA supporters, opinion was evenly divided, with 30% citing a positive effect and 30% a negative one.

The findings come from Wave 29 of the center’s Annenberg Science and Public Health survey, conducted April 14–28, 2026, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Ken Winneg, the center’s managing director of survey research, said the topline numbers mask how many MAHA supporters voice confidence in both the ADA and Kennedy.

The survey lands amid renewed national attention to community water fluoridation. Kennedy has said he wants the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending it, and the Environmental Protection Agency announced in April 2025 that it would review new science on fluoride in drinking water. The ADA maintains that community water fluoridation is a safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay.

Sources:
Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, “Americans Split on Fluoridation; Opposition by MAHA Supporters Notable”: annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/americans-split-on-fluoridation
ADA News, “Survey finds Americans more likely to trust ADA than RFK Jr. on fluoride information”: adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2026/june/survey-finds-americans-trust-ada


Americans Trust ADA Over RFK Jr. on Fluoride

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