County councillors are to tell the government they "strongly support" adding fluoride to the region's water supply to help combat tooth decay.
Prof Derek Ward, the council's director of public health, said he would like to see the addition of fluoride, which already happens in other parts of the country, to Norfolk's water.
And his call has been backed by county councillors across the political spectrum, who say it could help improve oral health in a population struggling to get access to NHS dentists.
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral and is used in toothpaste because it can prevent tooth decay from starting and from getting worse.
In some parts of the country it has been added to water since the 1960s, with scientific studies showing tooth decay is reduced in areas where fluoride is boosted.
Decisions on whether it can be added to water rest with health secretary James Murray.
And, with a scheme in the north east about to be extended, Prof Ward said he hoped Mr Murray might consider adding in other counties, such as Norfolk.
Prof Ward was speaking at a meeting of the county council's adult social care and public health committee, where a new prevention strategy to tackle oral health problems was discussed.
Many in Norfolk are struggling to access NHS dentists and the committee heard one in five of the county's five-year-olds had tooth decay or missing teeth, while 88pc of adults in the east of England had gum disease.
Conservative county councillor Dr Victoria Holliday, a former GP, asked why fluoride was not being added to Norfolk's water supply - something public health bosses previously mooted in 2024.
Prof Ward said: "Responsibility for fluoridation lies with the secretary of state for health and social care.
"At the moment, the proposal is being taken forward for the north east to be fluoridated and if that is a successful rollout, then pretty well every area, through their directors of public health, have got their hands up saying 'us next'."
Prof Ward, who used to be director of public health in Lincolnshire, said half of that county had its water fluoridated and half did not - and the difference between decay in children in each half was "massive".
While it occurs naturally in water, the amount varies due to geological differences and, in Norfolk, the amounts are too low to benefit teeth.
Reform county councillor Jack White said: "The fluoridation sounds great, but obviously not everyone is going to agree on that, because you do get sceptics about putting things in the waterways".
Fellow Reform councillor Jaden Lister asked whether there was a measurement system to ensure the right levels of fluoride were added, rather than too much or too little.
Prof Ward said: "There's long standing evidence about what the appropriate level of fluoride in the water supply should be in terms of maximising oral health.
"There are big swathes of the country that do this. There are naturally fluoridated water supplies and there are water supplies where it is added.
"There is a huge range of expertise to do this. It's a secretary of state decision whether they want to do this at a bigger scale.
"We know what we should do and we know the benefits, absolutely, there would be no issue with that."
The committee's chairman, Reform councillor Tina Kiddell proposed that it should send a letter to the government saying it strongly supported water fluoridation in Norfolk, which members unanimously agreed.
WIDESPREAD CONTROVERSY
While experts say adding fluoride can bring benefits, the practice has prompted some controversy.
An academic study in 2024 found the benefits of fluoridating water supplies appeared to have declined since the 1970s, when fluoride toothpaste became widely available in the UK.
The British Dental Association said it still supported community water fluoridation as a safe and effective public health intervention and should form part of a package of measures to improve oral health.
And, in the USA, where fluoridation is common, debate has raged about the practice.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, claimed there were links to arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease.
Some US states have banned the addition of fluoride, but most public health experts have rejected the claims and questioned the validity of the data Mr Kennedy used to reach his conclusions.
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