Fluoride Action Network

Abstract

Chronic fluorine intoxication of puppies produced extensive systemic changes of the bones and developing teeth. The intensity depended upon the age of the animal, the dose, and the duration of the administration of sodium fluoride. In puppies fed exclusively the milk of their fluorine-poisoned mother, changes of the bones were observed prior to those of the tooth buds.

The fact that in experimental fluorosis the changes of bones and developing teeth could not be prevented nor alleviated by an antirachitic diet, and calcification of a startling amount of periosteal and endosteal bone occurred in spite of continued administration of fluorine suggests the idea that the pathogenesis of the bone and tooth lesions in rickets and fluorosis differs.

Of course, the enzymatic and protoplasmic action of fluorine produced ricketslike changes in the bones and the dentine of puppies, but its effect on the bones of the older dogs and the enamel in general differed from rickets.

These experimental studies and recent observations of dental fluorosis in children and adults associated with bone changes indicate the necessity of a thorough roentgenographic examination of the skeleton of children showing “mottled enamel” in fluorine areas in this country.