“which affects 92 percent of adults”

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.  “Dental Caries (Tooth Decay) in Adults (Age 20 to 64).” (Washington, DC, USPHS).

“damn bit of difference”

P. Riley et al. “Xylitol‐Containing Products for Preventing Dental Caries in Children and Adults,” Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. (2015)

“Mountain Dew was invented, and beyond”

E. Barclay. “‘Mountain Dew Mouth’ Is Destroying Appalachia’s Teeth, Critics Say.” The Salt (blog), NPR. Sept 19, 2013.

“source of income for practicing dentists”

L.J. Brown and V. Lazar. “The Economic State of Dentistry. Demand-Side Trends,” J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 129  (1998): 1685.

“low 1 to 5 percent”

H. Keene. "History of Dental Caries in Human Populations: The First Million Years. Animal Models in Cariology,” Microbiol. Abstr. 16 (1981): 23.

“the prevalence of dental caries”

C.C. Guarnizo-Herreño et al. “Austin Powers Bites Back: A Cross Sectional Comparison of U.S. and English National Oral Health Surveys,” BMJ 351  (2015): h6543.

“dentists duked it out”

Scientists Clash over Dental Ills. Old Theory of Mouth Hygiene to Prevent Tooth Decay Is Called Useless.  New York Times, Mar 28, 1934.

“came to dominate it”

C.J. Adler et al. “Sequencing Ancient Calcified Dental Plaque Shows Changes in Oral Microbiota with Dietary Shifts of the Neolithic and Industrial Revolutions,” Nat. Genet. 45  (2013): 450.

“immediate access”

T.A. Marshall et al. “Dental Caries and Beverage Consumption in Young Children,” Pediatrics 112  (2003): e184.

“surrounding the tooth”

P. Lingström et al. “Food Starches and Dental Caries,” Crit. Rev.Oral Biol. Med. 11 (3) (2000): 366.

“surrounding the tooth”

C.P. Aires et al. “Effect of Starch and Sucrose on Dental Biofilm Formation and on Root Dentine Demineralization,” Caries Res. 42 (5) (2008): 380.

“surrounding the tooth”

C.C. Ribeiro et al. “Effect of Starch on the Cariogenic Potential of Sucrose,” Br. J. Nutr. 94 (1) (2005): 44.

“champion cavity-maker”

L. Zeng and R.A. Burne. “Comprehensive Mutational Analysis of Sucrose-Metabolizing Pathways in Streptococcus Mutans Reveals Novel Roles for the Sucrose Phosphotransferase System Permease,” J. Bacteriol. 135 (833-843) (2013).

“sugar halted their progression”

B.E. Gustafsson et al. “The Vipeholm Dental Caries Study; the Effect of Different Levels of Carbohydrate Intake on Caries Activity in 436 Individuals Observed for Five Years,” Acta Odontol. Scand. 11 (3-4) (1954): 232.

“consumption in children”

H. Koike. "Studies on Caries Incidence in the First Molar in Relation to Amount of Sugar Consumption on Primary School Children in Kyoto City,” Bull. Tokyo Dent. Coll. 3 (1962): 44.

“and adults”

A. Sheiham and W.P.T. James. “A Reappraisal of the Quantitative Relationship between Sugar Intake and Dental Caries: The Need for New Criteria for Developing Goals for Sugar Intake,” BMC Public Health 14  (2014): 863.

“and adults”

E. Bernabé and A. Sheiham. “Age, Period and Cohort Trends in Caries of Permanent Teeth in Four Developed Countries,” Am. J. Public Health 104 (7) (2014): e115.

“caries rates in New Zealand children”

S. Thornley et al. “Low Sugar Nutrition Policies and Dental Caries: A Study of Primary Schools in South Auckland,” J Paediatr Child Health 53 (5) (2017): 495.

“starches and sugars”

E.V. McCollum. Newer Knowledge of Nutrition. 5th ed. (New York: MacMillan, 1939).

“controlling or preventing dental decay”

W.R. Davis. “What Can the Dental Health Worker Teach Regarding Nutrition and Diet?,” Am. J. Public Health 31  (1941): 715.

“dissolve in response to a low pH”

B.T. Amaechi and C. Van Loveren. “Fluorides and Non-Fluoride Remineralization Systems,” Monogr. Oral Sci. 23  (2013): 15.

“dropped more than 60 percent”

F.J. McClure.  Water Fluoridation, the Search and the Victory. NIDR (Bethesda: 1970).

“was cut in half”

R. Touger-Decker and C. Van Loveren. “Sugars and Dental Caries,” Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 78  (2003): 881s.

“health over the decade”

R.A. Freeze and J.H. Lehr. The Fluoride Wars: How a Modest Public Health Measure Became America’s Longest-Running Political Melodrama (Hoboken: Wiley, 2009).

“back to the dental community”

F. Zelko. “Optimizing Nature: Invoking the ‘Natural’ in the Struggle over Water Fluoridation,” History of Science 57 (4)  (2019): 518.

“year old children”

B. Dye.  Trends in Oral Health Status: United States 1988-1994 and 1999-2004. CDC (Hyattsville: USPHS, 2007).

“only led to a 40 percent reduction”

A. Nordström and D. Birkhed. “Fluoride Retention in Proximal Plaque and Saliva Using Two NaF Dentifrices Containing 5,000 and 1,450 ppm F with and without Water Rinsing,” Caries Res. 44   (2010): 323.

“never even broke 50 percent”

M. Glick. “A Job Well Done, but Still a Long Way to Go,” J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 136   (2005): 1506.

“patterns to boot”

M. Dragojevic et al. “Promoting Oral Health in Appalachia: Effects of Threat Label and Source Accent on Message Acceptance,” Health Commun. 35  (2020): 297.

“fluoridation since 1956”

K. Hill. “Why Portland Is Wrong About Water Fluoridation.” But Not Simpler (blog), Scientific American. May 22, 2013.

“also banned fluoride”

E. Chuck. Science Says Fluoride in Water Is Good for Kids. So Why Are These Towns Banning It? (NBC News, 2018).

“between fluoride exposure and childhood IQ”

R. Green et al. “Association between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada,” JAMA Pediatr. 73 (10)  (2019): 940.

“fluoride exposure and childhood IQ”

C. Till et al. "Fluoride Exposure from Infant Formula and Child IQ in a Canadian Birth Cohort,” Environ. Int. 134 (2020): 105315.

“Aubrey Sheiham’s estimates”

A. Sheiham and W.P.T. James. “Diet and Dental Caries: The Pivotal Role of Free Sugars Reemphasized,” J. Dent. Res. 94   (2015): 1341.

“which can go on to abscess”

L.J. Brown et al. “Trends in Caries among Adults 18-45 Years Old,” J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 133   (2002): 827.

“42% of recruits”

T.M. Leiendecker et al. “Department of Defense (DoD) Recruit Oral Survey,” Milbank Med. 176 (8 Suppl)   (2011): 1.

“would be negligible”

A. Rugg-Gunn. “Dental Caries: Strategies to Control This Preventable Disease,” Acta Med. Acad. 42   (2013): 117.

“mentioned as an option”

R.L. Slayton et al. “Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline on Non-Restorative Treatments for Carious Lesions: A Report from the American Dental Association,” J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 149   (2018): 837.

“with dental caries”

N. Pitts and D. Zero.  White Paper on Dental Caries Prevention and Management. (Federation of Dentistry International, 2020).