Where public health meets public opinion: Understanding political support for fluoridation in Calgary, 2021.

Objectives: To understand variables associated with support for community water fluoridation among ordinary citizens during periods of heightened issue salience, with a particular focus on how support varies on the basis of demographic characteristics, attitudes toward public health science, and political variables such as ideology, populism, and issue salience.

Methods: Statistical analysis of individual-level data from a large-scale survey of eligible voters in the City of Calgary, Alberta in 2021, collected at the time of a community water fluoridation plebiscite.

Results: Survey data (N = 1130) reveal substantively important and statistically significant relationships with fluoridation support in each of our three analysis categories (demographics, public health expertise, and politics).

Effectiveness of Narrative Messaging Styles about the Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequities in Ontario, Canada.

Health inequities are systemic, avoidable, and unjust differences in health between populations. These differences are often determined by social and structural factors, such as income and social status, employment and working conditions, or race/racism, which are referred to as the social determinants of health (SDOH). According to public opinion, health is considered to be largely determined by the choices and behaviours of individuals.

Risk perception, psychological heuristics and the water fluoridation controversy.

Objectives: Increasingly, support for water fluoridation has come under attack. We seek an explanation, focusing on the case of Waterloo, Ontario, where a 2010 referendum overturned its water fluoridation program. In particular, we test whether individuals perceive the risks of water fluoridation based not on 'hard' scientific evidence but on heuristics and cultural norms.