Dr. Hardy Limeback told the Toronto Star that, after years of study, he's convinced the population is getting sufficient fluoride in toothpaste and other oral hygiene products to offset the need for municipal fluoridation.

About 43 percent of Canadian municipalities add traces of fluoride to water supplies. However, Limeback said many European countries are stopping the practice and tooth decay rates are no higher there than in Canada.

"Even those people who rely on food banks pick up fluoridated toothpaste for their families," he told the Star in an e-mail interview. "Fluoridated water is not needed for the poor."

In 2006, the National Research Council of Canada issued a warning that infants younger than 12 months could develop a permanent mottling of the teeth called fluorosis from too much fluoride. Limeback said there were also studies linking fluoride to nerve damage in infants, leading to lower IQ levels in later life, the report said.