As the U.S. moves to reduce the level of fluoride in drinking water, some parents may be excited by this development, as a recent study found that exposure to fluoride could potentially lower children's IQ scores.

The study, which was published in Environmental Health Perspectives, noted that there were previous reports on how fluoride could affect child IQ, but researchers were able to find a correlation between the lower IQ and the fluoride levels in the study participants' blood.

"What is also striking is that the levels of the fluoride in the community where the lowered IQs were recorded were lower than the EPA's so-called 'safe' drinking water standard for fluoride of 4 ppm and far too close for comfort to the levels used in artificial fluoridation programs (0.7 – 1.2 ppm)," said study author Dr. Paul Connett.

The study's authors noted that only 8 percent of children who lived in areas where fluoride was prevalent in the drinking water were considered of normal or high intelligence, compared to 28 percent of children who lived in low-fluoride cities.