With the overwhelming rejection, the fluoride issue was dropped for a number of years. In 1964 city officials believed that at least ten years would have to pass before another attempt, because of a state law allowing a city government to repeal an ordinance passed by referendum only ten years after it was in effect. As it happened, it only took seven years.

Kansas Attorney General Vern Miller, in a July 22, 1972, opinion to City Attorney John Dekker, concluded that there was no legal ban to passing a fluoridation ordinance, despite the 1964 referendum. A new ordinance would not repeal any ordinance adopted by the people since the 1964 referendum only repeated the one ordinance. Therefore, the way was cleared for Wichita to act.

By 1970, 50 percent of the Kansas population joined 90 million Americans using water fluoridated at or above the optimal level. Seventy Kansas communities had controlled fluoridation, including nearby Clearwater, and McConnell Air Force Base, which fluoridated water purchased from Wichita.

With evidence accumulating in support of fluoride, several states passed mandatory fluoridation laws. Representatives Frederick Linde of Wichita and Dr. E.F. Steichen of Lenora co-sponsored a statewide fluoridation bill in 1970, which failed to clear the House Committee on Public Health and Welfare. Then in April, 1971, an active fluoride supporter, Dr. Garry Porter, was elected to the City Commission. In the following November, he brought fluoridation back in front of the commission, saying that times had changed, and Wichitans now believed they were entitled to good health.

With Porter pushing for fluoride, a report was prepared by Hess, and Dr. Leon Bauman, director of the Community Health Department. The report contended fluoridation "will prevent 50 to 75 percent of the dental decay of Wichita children." It maintained that there were not enough dentists in Wichita to adequately care for the population and concluded that fluoridation was "the only practical change that can be made to satisfactorily improve the dental health of the community." (Beacon, 12/21/71). Equipment for initial fluoridation would cost $30,000, with annual expenses running about $14,800.

The pros and cons of fluoridation were debated at the November 23, 1971, City Commission meeting. Generally, the arguments used had been heard seven years earlier. Mayor Greene and Commissioners Porter and Shanahan voted to instruct City Attorney Dekker to draft the ordinance authorizing fluoridation. Commissioners Stevens and Donnell were opposed. The ordinance was presented on first reading at the December 7 meeting, and after additional debate, the commission voted 2 to 2. Shanahan was absent, leaving Donnell and Stevens to vote no, and Greene and Porter to vote yes. Donnell, a physician, explained that he favored fluoridation but felt, as an opponent of "government by decree," that the people should vote on it. (Eagle, 12/10/71). Because of the tie, the issue came up again the following week, December 14. Shanahan joined Donnell and Stevens in voting no to make it a 3 to 2 decision against fluoridation. Shanahan agreed with Donnell in favoring fluoridation, but in light of the 1964 referendum, he could not justify a positive vote.

Controversial items sometimes appeared simultaneously, and during the same period the commission considered the regulation of Wichita's X-rated movie houses. A motion by Stevens to ban all X-rated movies in Wichita was defeated 4 to 1 because it was considered unconstitutional.

After the fluoridation proposal was defeated, Donnell suggested that free fluoride tablets be provided to school children, but his proposal never was implemented. The Board of Health set up a task force to study fluoridation in 1972, and in 1973 and 1975 bills for mandatory fluoridation again died in the legislature.

The issue lay dormant for a few more years. Then, after a two-year absence, Porter was re-elected to the City Commission in April, 1977. Soon after, Porter announced that he would ask the commission to again reconsider fluoridation in light of government reports stating that fluoridation improves dental health. In response to the approaching discussion, City Manager Denton prepared a report to the commission in May, 1977, in which he stated, "Generally, the weight of the medical and dental profession is strongly behind the use of fluoride in drinking water. Accumulation of fluoride in amounts significant enough to be harmful is virtually impossible." The report gave the annual cost of fluoridation to be between $28,000 and $39,000, less than 13 cents per person, after an initial $15,000 investment. (Eagle, 5/16/77).

Fluoride was discussed at the May 17, 1977, City Commission meeting. According to the Eagle's report the next day, "Fluoride is volatile stuff--mere mention of it has stirred up countless arguments in Wichita. The City Commission Tuesday received another dose of fluoride fallout during an hour-long debate on the virtues and vices associated with dumping the chemical into the local water supply."

The debate was strongly reminiscent of past encounters as the majority of doctors, dentists, and public health officials present argued the benefits of fluoride, while various citizens protested the mass medication and the poisoning of the water supply. Many of the people involved had been around in the earlier battles and most of the 50 opponents used the same arguments that had been used before. The proponents also maintained their old stance, this time represented by the Sedgwick County Medical Society, the Wichita District Dental Association, the State Department of Health and Environment, and the EPA. Once again it was the organized experts versus the mass of citizens opposed to change.

After the debate, the commission ordered the Health Department to reactivate the fluoride task force formed in 1972, which had stopped