In Reply We appreciate the widespread interest in our study and the opportunity to respond to the critiques and clarify some facts.

We agree that our study reported an association, not causation. Still, observational studies are optimal for testing many important questions in public health, and they are often used to infer causality. Indeed, if we dismissed observational studies, we would have no evidence that water fluoridation prevents tooth decay in children.

中文翻译：

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母体氟暴露与儿童智商回复之间的关联。

在答复中，我们感谢对研究的广泛兴趣，以及有机会对这些批评做出回应并澄清一些事实。

我们同意我们的研究报告的是关联，而不是因果关系。尽管如此，观察性研究还是检验公共卫生中许多重要问题的最佳选择，并且经常被用来推断因果关系。的确，如果我们取消观察性研究，我们将没有证据表明水氟化可以防止儿童蛀牙。