AUGUSTA — Alarmed by Mount Desert’s vote earlier this month to remove fluoride from the drinking water and questions about its safety now being raised in Bangor, Public Health Director Dr. Dora Mills held a press conference Monday to counter what she called unfortunate misinformation that is frightening the public.

“Fluoride is one of the most common elements found on Earth and the single most effective way to prevent tooth decay,” Mills said.

Water fluoridation is simply an adjustment of the naturally occurring fluoride levels in drinking water that help reduce tooth decay for children by 20 to 40 percent, she said.

Flanked by 20 health professionals and several water district operators from around the state, Mills said her biggest concern about the Mount Desert vote is  that the fear that caused it will spread.

“Fear is definitely a contagion,” Mills said, adding that she doesn’t want the state to go backward 50 years and stop putting fluoride in the public water supply.

Mount Desert voters at Town Meeting on March 6 voted 229-42 to remove fluoride from the drinking water — becoming the first municipality in Maine to do so. Maine law requires that each city or town decide through referendum whether it wants fluoride in the water. Mount Desert approved it back in 1963.

Over the weekend, a Bangor pediatrician wrote an opinion column citing studies in China and elsewhere that suggested connections between high fluoride concentrations and lower IQ and autism in children and increased bone fractures in adults.

“He is the lone pediatrician in the United States to fight fluoridation,” said Dr. Jonathan Shenkin, a pediatric dentist from Bangor who spoke at Monday’s press conference. “The studies were taken out of context to scare people.”

Frances Miliano, executive director of the Maine Dental Association, said her organization, representing 700 dentists in the state, supports the continued use of fluoride in public water supplies.

“The bottom line on community water fluoridations is it saves teeth and it saves money,” she said, which is particularly important in Maine where so many children don’t get proper dental care.

“It costs 50 cents to $3 per person,” a year to put fluoride in the water depending on the community, Miliano said. “That’s less than the cost of a single filling.”

Rep. Lisa Miller (D-Somerville), who works for a health care nonprofit and serves on the Health and Human Services Committee, also spoke in favor of the fluoride program.

“If you take away one of the best preventive measures we’ve got, were in deep, deep trouble,” she said, particularly given the dentist shortage in rural parts of Maine and how few accept Medicaid patients.

While close to half the people in Maine get their water from private wells, the rest are on public water, and an estimated 84 percent of those systems are treated with fluoride. Maine is one of the few states in the country that requires a local vote before fluoride can be put into a public system; most states have opt-out requirements only.

Nationwide nearly two-thirds of residents on public water systems have fluoridated water and it used in more than 60 countries.

According to information provided by the Maine Center for Disease Control, Maine’s fluoridated water systems serve: Anson, Arundel, Ashland, Auburn, Augusta, Baileyville, Bangor, Bar Harbor, Bath, Belfast, Benton, Berwick, Bethel, Biddeford, Blaine, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Bradley, Brewer, Bridgton, Brunswick, Bucksport, Camden, Cape Elizabeth, Caribou, Chelsea, Clifton, Cumberland, Damariscotta, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Dixfield, Eagle Lake, East Millinocket, Eastport, Eddington, Ellsworth, Embden, Fairfield, Falmouth, Farmingdale, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Freeport, Fryeburg, Gardiner, Gorham, Greening Island, Guilford, Hampden, Hartland, Hermon, Holden, Houlton, Hulls Cove, Indian Island, Indian Township, Island Falls, Jackman, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Lewiston, Limestone, Lubec, Machias, Madawaska, Madison, Manchester, Mars Hill, Mechanic Falls, Medway, Mexico, Milford, Millinocket, Monmouth, Moose River, Newcastle, Newport, Northeast Harbor, Northport, Norway, Oakland, Ogunquit, Old Orchard Beach, Old Town, Orono, part of Orrington, Owls Head, Pittsfield, Pittston, Pleasant Point, Portland, Presque Isle, Randolph, Raymond, Rockland, Rockport, Rumford, Saco, Salisbury Cove, Sanford, Sangerville, Scarborough, Seal Harbor, Skowhegan, Southport, South Freeport, South Gardiner, South Portland, Southwest Harbor, Springvale, Standish, Thomaston, Topsham, Van Buren, Vassalboro, Veazie, Washburn, Waterville, Wells, West Bath, Westbrook, Westfield, Windham, Winslow, Winterport, Winthrop, Wiscasset, Woolwich and part of York.