A moment to recall Dr. Frank Orland, a father of fluoride
Dr. Frank Orland, 78, a retired dentist from Riverside’s Orland Family Dental, grew up drinking water with fluoride in it, as his father, Dr. Frank J. Orland, was a pioneering dentist and his mother, Dr. Phyllis Orland, a pediatrician, even before a majority of the country fluoridated its water.
“He had us drink fluoridated water wherever we went. I remember bringing little plastic bottles of water that he fluoridated himself, so we’d have the full effect, even on trips,” Orland said Friday.
“My in-laws believed in [fluoride] zealously from the research my father-in-law did, and it sure proved to be effective. My husband never had cavities [nor] his siblings,” Orland’s wife, Dr. Carla P. Orland, 71, added.
Frank Orland’s father was one of the scientists who helped prove bacteria can cause tooth decay. While earning advanced degrees in microbiology from the University of Chicago, his father was involved with studies comparing fluoridated water in Evanston with non-fluoridated water in Oak Park and the effects on children’s teeth from 1947 to 1961.
His father was also one of the founders and the first president of the Historical Society of Forest Park.
Water has widely been fluoridated since that time in the United States due to the proven benefits of daily exposure. Chicago has added fluoride to its water since 1956, Frank Orland said, and Riverside has gotten its water from Chicago since the 1980s.
But the practice is now coming under fire and making national headlines. Last month, Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah signed a bill banning communities from adding the mineral to their public water systems, a move Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised. He called for the end of water fluoridation and may have an HHS task force make a new recommendation on the practice.
Despite Kennedy’s anti-fluoride stance, the American Dental Association continues to recommend the use of fluoride in water while the Center for Disease Control finds consuming fluoride reduces cavities by about 25%. Fluoride does so by repairing and preventing the natural damage to teeth caused by bacteria in the mouth, which produce acid that dissolves minerals in teeth when someone eats or drinks.
“I was totally distraught by that comment of Secretary Kennedy because it literally is unfounded on fact, with all the research that’s been done for fluoride intensely since the ‘40s, plus all the empirical work before then. It just doesn’t make any sense to ban fluoride when it’s been so beneficial to how many millions of kids and adults, too,” Frank Orland said.
“No offense, but how well versed scientifically is [Secretary] Kennedy? I mean, is he a scientist, or is he just listening to, maybe, some people that have kind of erratic views?” Carla P. Orland added. “Basic science is who I would listen to, and, my God, no one, to my mind, in the dental profession thinks banning fluoride is a good idea.”
The World Health Organization notes that in excessive quantities, the consumption of fluoride can cause fluorosis, a disorder causing discoloration and potentially damage in teeth. The CDC recommends a concentration of 0.7 milliliters of fluoride per liter of water — equivalent to about “3 drops of water in a 55-gallon barrel” — which is far below the level where the mineral could become harmful.
The son of two doctors
The Orlands recalled many anecdotes about Frank Orland’s parents, especially Dr. Frank J. Orland, who took an interest in local history and was known to be a “quirky” character around town. Carla P. Orland said he was a key player in the Forest Park centennial celebration in 1984.
“He was an alumnus of the University of Illinois, but he also, because he is such a good historian, even told Loyola Dental School 10 years in advance when it was going to be their hundred-year centennial. ‘You people better get ready for this!’ He’s the one that’s telling other institutions, ‘You better start planning,’ because you can’t plan a hundred-year celebration in one year,” she said.
She said part of Forest Park’s 100-year celebrations included a time capsule for the village’s second centennial in 2084.
“In there are my children’s clothes, some of the things of what kids were wearing in 1984,” she said.
She added that they often had Frank J. and Phyllis Orland watch their children when they couldn’t.
“My babysitter happened to be my in-laws, and I used to joke with everyone that my children — and this is literally true — my children were in better hands with the babysitter than their own mother because the babysitter happens to be a pediatrician and the grandpa is a PhD,” she said. “My mother-in-law, when she would get her vaccines in the mail, back then, it was packed in dry ice, so they would unpack it, and they’d walk through the house making magic potions with dry ice. My kids were exposed to so much because they had the honor and the privilege of spending time with their grandparents.”
She added: “[Frank J. Orland] named his house — get a load of this — ‘Dr. Orland’s Complex Duplex.’”
“All the rooms in the house had Greek letters for the names, so we still call some of the rooms by the Greek letter, like kappa for kitchen, lambda for living room,” Frank Orland said. “That’s how we kept track of things.”
