text: No, the "obvious solution" is to regularly shame bad parents into teaching and practicing good oral hygiene to their children.  Next would be shaming people into waiting to have children until they have the maturity, finances, and the commitment to actually raise their children.   Fluoride, social workers and welfare programs are the result of being totally unwilling to directly address the underlying cause of so many problems:   horrendous parenting.  But big government, nanny-state advocates would understandably prefer fluoride to shaming bad parents.