Opinion: Who knew that “drill, baby, drill!” was about the dentists?

Did you hear the good news? We’re bringing back cavities!
For all the people who say they voted to reinstate President Donald Trump for his “policies,” get ready to celebrate with a national-level renewal of tooth decay. 
U.S.A.! … U.S. Owww! … Can we get a little more novocaine, doc?
Remember, patriot: That’s not a shooting pain in your mouth. It’s an opportunity to enjoy more “freedom fillings” from your local dentist.
For those of you keeping score at home, Trump bought off the support of third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by offering this brainwormed-omnivore a national health-care role. 
“I’m gonna let him go wild on health, go wild on the food, go wild on medicine,” Trump said about Kennedy during a recent campaign rally.
“The only thing I don’t think I’m going to let him get near is the liquid gold we have under our feet,” Trump said. “Sometimes referred to as oil and gas.”
In other words, bring back polio with the end of vaccines, if you want, Mr. Kennedy, but please, mute your environmentalism by leaving energy production to the polluting profiteers.
One of the things a Trump-empowered RFK Jr. will be “going wild on” is banning the addition of fluoride to public drinking water.
“We don’t need fluoride in our water,” Kennedy said. “It’s a very bad way to deliver it into our systems.”
Back in the real world, the Centers for Disease Control has called the addition of fluoride in drinking water, a process that began in 1945, as one of “Ten Great Public Health Achievements” of the last century. 
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that has proven to be effective in fighting tooth decay. Adding it to the drinking water is especially vital to people who don’t practice good oral hygiene by brushing their teeth regularly with fluoride-containing toothpaste. 
The CDC strongly advocates – but does not mandate – adding fluoride to public drinking water.
“Community water fluoridation is a cornerstone strategy for the prevention of cavities in the U.S.,” the Centers for Disease Control site says. “It is a practical, cost-effective, and equitable way for communities to improve their residents’ oral health regardless of age, education or income.” 
The effects of fluoridation in the water has been dramatic, the CDC says.
“Drinking fluoridated water keeps teeth strong and reduces cavities by about 25 percent in children and adults,” the CDC wrote. “This results in less mouth pain, fewer fillings or teeth pulled, and fewer missed days of work and school.”
Even so, there has been a persistent push against water fluoridation by groups such as the Fluoride Action Network, which disputes the health benefits of adding fluoride to water while claiming that it unethically forces people to ingest a drug. 
“With water fluoridation we are allowing governments to do to whole communities (forcing people to take a medicine irrespective of their consent) what individual doctors cannot do to individual patients,” the group argues.
Left to their own judgments, some county and city public drinking water suppliers have taken different paths. 
For example, in Palm Beach County, the water is fluoridated in the large unincorporated areas as well as in some cities, such as Delray Beach, Boytnon Beach and West Palm Beach. 
Meanwhile, other cities, including Boca Raton, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Lake Worth have opted not to add fluoride. 
In what became a very public debate 10 years ago, elected officials in the Village of Wellington voted 3-2 to end what was a 14-year practice of fluoridating the water. 
Two years later, the Wellington council reversed that decision with a unanimous vote to reinstate the addition of fluoride to the water.
“It was significant to me that every local dentist who came and spoke here tonight, as well as most pediatricians, spoke in favor of fluoride, and my kids’ doctor as well as their dentist are in favor of fluoride,” then-Councilman Michael Drahos said. 
“Those are people that I entrust for the safety of my own kids.” 
Now, we get to entrust the safety of our country to Dr. Trump and his blank-check, gone-wild new medical guru, RFK Jr. 
Over the weekend, when asked about Kennedy’s desire to remove fluoride from the drinking water, Trump gave an answer that showed just how little he knew or cared about the subject. 
“Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet but it sounds OK to me,” Trump told NBC News. “You know, it’s possible.”
So, it’s time to embrace tooth decay, America, and to celebrate the return of cavities.
Get ready, dentists. The golden age of America has arrived for you. 
Drill, baby, drill!
Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, part of the Gannett Newspapers chain.