Fluoride Action Network

Abstract

A group (I) of 7–12-yr-old children from non-fluoridated communities who had ingested 0.5 mg F supplement/day from shortly after birth to the age of 3 yr. and 1 mg/day thereafter was compared with a control group (II) from the same communities and with a group (III) with lifetime exposure to fluoridated water. The mean DFS scores of Groups I, II and III were approximately in the ratios 1:5:2. A corresponding proportionality was found for the dfs scores. Analyses of enamel biopsies from permanent teeth showed that the mean F concentrations of the surface enamel ranked as follows: Group 1 > Group III > Group II. The prevalence of atypically shallow pits and fissures ranked in the same order. It is concluded, therefore, that the caries-preventive effect of the ingested F was related both to elevated F levels in the surface enamel and to less retentive pits and fissures. Sixty-seven per cent of Group I was classified as having fluorosis mainly of the very mild and mild types; in no case was there any discolouring or pitting of the enamel.


*Original abstract online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0003996974901940?via%3Dihub

*See funding for this study at https://europepmc.org/article/MED/12692915

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