If there is one thing we have learned from the banking disaster and the horrors of the Magdalen Laundries, it is that we should no longer place passive trust in authorities and regulators.

DOCTOR Seamus O’Hickey of the Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health (Letters, April 13) criticised my letter (April 11) on the serious adverse effects of water fluoridation on people’s health.

DR SEAMUS O’HICKEY is right to point out the vast improvement water fluoridation contributes to dental health (Irish Examiner letters, April 13).

SEAN FLEMING’S letter about water fluoridation communicated some inaccuracies and made some scientifically unfounded connections between water fluoridation and the incidence of a range of diseases (Irish Examiner, April 11).