Water fluoridation expansion due by 2030
Getty ImagesPlans to add fluoride the water supply of about 1.6 million more people should be complete by 2030, the government has said.
Last month the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it would introduce fluoridation to more areas of north-east England.
It has now said that it will take about five years to install the equipment required at up to 11 water treatment works in the area.
The installation as well as its day-to-day operation will be paid for by the government and will cost about £67m over 40 years.
But the DHSC also estimates the scheme will result in about £200m of social benefits to the region across the same period.
These include savings from avoided fillings and "productivity gains" due to fewer workdays missed, according to a government impact statement on the scheme.
Health inequalities
Northumbrian Water has been supplying artificially fluoridated water since the late 1960s to Chester-le-Street, Consett, and Stanley in County Durham, Alnwick, Hexham and Cramlington in Northumberland and North Tyneside, plus Newcastle and Gateshead.
The DHSC will now expand the scheme to Darlington, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton, Sunderland and areas further north which are not currently covered.
The department said about one in 10 people in England currently had fluoride added to their water supplies.
Dr Lucy O'Malley at the University of Manchester previously told the BBC the scheme would likely benefit children, but there was no evidence water fluoridation reduced oral health inequalities.
She said other measures needed to be put in place as well.
Alongside its plans in the North East, the DHSC also previously announced a nationwide supervised toothbrushing scheme.