Systematic impacts of fluoride exposure on the metabolomics of rats.

Highlights The risk of chronic endemic fluorosis exists in many countries and regions. Comprehensive metabolomic analysis was used to study the effects of fluoride. Multivariate statistics were used to detect metabolite profile changes. Fluoride exposure caused amino acid, fatty acid, and energy metabolism disorders. Fluoride exposure caused oxidative stress,

Studies on skeletal muscle biopsies in endemic skeletal fluorosis

Neurological manifestations of skeletal fluorosis have been attributed to compressive radiculomyelopathy. Experimental fluorosis has shown evidence of myopathic changes. Data on human muscle pathology is very scanty. This study included 22 patients with established osteofluorosis. 16 of them showed only EMG changes of neurogenic muscle disease. Histochemistry and histopathology of muscle biopsies showed

Prevalence of fluorosis in Pratabpura and Surajpura villages, District Ajmer (Rajasthan).

HEEP COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. In a study of 357 individuals at Pratabpura and Surajpura villages in Ajmer district, Rajasthan, where (F-) contents in water were 14.3 and 13.9 mg/l, respectively, dental fluorosis was present in 280 (83.5%). Males were slightly more (87.56%) affected than females (78.66%). Of children below 15

Health problems in fluoride endemic areas of Gaya District

Fluoride (F) was estimated in the groundwater of six blocks (Bodh Gaya, Manpur, Wazirganj, Belaganj, Amas, and Bankebazar) of Gaya District, Bihar, for different physio-chemical properties e.g. pH, total dissolved solids(TDS), conductivity, turbidity, total hardness (TH), calcium, magnesium, iron and fluoride. Morever 93 blood samples from different age groups including

Fluorine Intoxication: A Clinical-Hygienic Study with a Review of the Literature and Some Experimental Investigations

Fluoride & Osteoarthritis

While the osteoarthritic effects that occurred from fluoride exposure were once considered to be limited to those with skeletal fluorosis, recent research shows that fluoride can cause osteoarthritis in the absence of traditionally defined fluorosis. Conventional methods used for detecting skeletal fluorosis, therefore, will fail to detect the full range of people suffering from fluoride-induced osteoarthritis.

Skeletal Fluorosis: The Misdiagnosis Problem

It is a virtual certainty that there are individuals in the general population unknowingly suffering from some form of skeletal fluorosis as a result of a doctor's failure to consider fluoride as a cause of their symptoms. Proof that this is the case can be found in the following case reports of skeletal fluorosis written by doctors in the U.S. and other western countries. As can be seen, a consistent feature of these reports is that fluorosis patients--even those with crippling skeletal fluorosis--are misdiagnosed for years by multiple teams of doctors who routinely fail to consider fluoride as a possible cause of their disease.

"Pre-Skeletal" Fluorosis

As demonstrated by the studies below, skeletal fluorosis may produce adverse symptoms, including arthritic pains, clinical osteoarthritis, gastrointestinal disturbances, and bone fragility, before the classic bone change of fluorosis (i.e., osteosclerosis in the spine and pelvis) is detectable by x-ray. Relying on x-rays, therefore, to diagnosis skeletal fluorosis will invariably fail to protect those individuals who are suffering from the pre-skeletal phase of the disease. Moreover, some individuals with clinical skeletal fluorosis will not develop an increase in bone density, let alone osteosclerosis, of the spine. Thus, relying on unusual increases in spinal bone density will under-detect the rate of skeletal fluoride poisoning in a population.

X-Ray Diagnosis of Skeletal Fluorosis

In 1937, Kaj Roholm published his seminal study Fluorine Intoxication in which he described three phases of bone changes that occur in skeletal fluorosis. (See below). These three phases, which are detectable by x-ray, have been widely used as a diagnostic guide for detecting the disease. They describe an osteosclerotic bone disease that develops first in the axial skeleton (the spine, pelvis, and ribs), and ultimately results in extensive calcification of ligaments and cartilage, as well as bony outgrowths such as osteophytes and exostoses. Subsequent research has found, however, that x-rays provide a very crude measure for diagnosing fluorosis since the disease can cause symptoms and effects (e.g., osteoarthritis) before, and in the absence of, radiologicaly detectable osteosclerosis in the spine.

Skeletal Fluorosis in the U.S.

Although there has been a notable absence of systematic studies on skeletal fluorosis in the U.S., the available evidence indicates that the consumption of artificially fluoridated water is likely to cause skeletal fluorosis and other forms of bone disease in people with kidney disease and other vulnerable populations.