Abstract

BACKGROUND:  High-concentration topical fluorides are used commonly to with compromised salivary function due to irradiation and chemotherapy.

CASE DESCRIPTION:  The authors describe a 50-year-old man with previously treated cancer who was using tray-applied topical fluoride gel. He complained of gastric symptoms, difficulty in swallowing, leg muscle soreness and knee joint soreness. A computed tomographic scan revealed thickening of the esophageal walls. An upper endoscopy revealed abnormal motility. The motility test indicated high-amplitude peristalsis and hypertensive lower esophageal sphincter, and urine testing indicated high levels of systemic fluoride. The patient’s fluoride regimen was altered, and within a short period his urinary fluoride levels returned to normal and his symptoms resolved.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS:  Clinicians prescribing home-applied high-concentration fluorides need to be cognizant of the symptoms of fluoride toxicity, carefully monitor the patient’s compliance with the treatment regimen, and adjust the dosage or mode of application to control the total ingested dose of fluoride.

• Related Studies :

  • Recovery from skeletal fluorosis (an enigmatic, American case)

    A 52-year-old man presented with severe neck immobility and radiographic osteosclerosis. Elevated fluoride levels in serum, urine, and iliac crest bone revealed skeletal fluorosis. Nearly a decade of detailed follow-up documented considerable correction of the disorder after removal of the putative source of fluoride (toothpaste). INTRODUCTION: Skeletal fluorosis, a crippling bone

  • Topical fluorides: effects on physiologic and biochemical processes

    The ingestion of fluoride from dentifrices or mouthrinses can contribute substantially to the total daily intake of the ion, even in communities that provide optimally fluoridated drinking water. It is concluded that the frequent and unsupervised use of these products by children six years of age or younger, especially those living in

  • Fluoride intoxication from drinking water (a report of 52 cases)

    In previous publications, cases of incipient fluorine 1) poisoning from drinking artificially fluoridated water at the 1 ppm concentration were reported. A specific disease pattern could be discerned closely tallying with what has b??n observed in industrial poisoning from fluorine intake at higher levels. There are three groups of symptoms: 1. Those

  • Prenatal and postnatal ingestion of fluorides: fourteen years of investigation -- final report

    Three different sources of fluoride were used in this study. The tablets containing 1.0 mgm fluorine ion from CaF2; 1.2 mgm fluorine ion, from NaF and 0.825 mgm fluorine ion from Na2PO3F, each. These values were chosen so that each tablet would contain approximately the same amount of the ion

  • [Osteofluorosis caused by excess use of toothpaste].

    BACKGROUND: Osteofluorosis is caused by chronic fluoride intoxication. Fluoride is used in toothpaste for the prevention of dental caries, and dental fluorosis has often been reported among children and attributed to ingestion of fluoride toothpaste. We report a case of chronic fluoride intoxication caused by excess use of toothpaste in

• Related FAN Content :

  • Fluoride-Induced Damage to Gastric Mucosa in Human Clinical Trials

    When fluoride has been used (at doses of 18-34 mg/day) as an experimental treatment for osteoporosis, gastric pain is one of the two main side effects consistently encountered. To better understand how fluoride causes this effect, researchers have sought to determine how fluoride affects the tissue that lines the gastrointestinal tract. In a

  • Side Effects from Fluoride Gels: Gastric Distress

    Gastric distress -- including nausea, pain, and vomiting -- is one the most common side effects from professional application of "fluoride gels" at the dentist. Patients receiving fluoride gels can swallow more than 20 mg of fluoride from a single treatment -- doses that far exceed the doses that can

  • Gastrointestinal Problems Among Individuals with Skeletal Fluorosis

    Humans suffering from skeletal fluorosis are known to suffer from an increased occurrence of gastrointestinal disorders. When fluoride intake is reduced, these gastrointestinal problems are among the first symptoms to disappear. The following are some of the studies that have examined this issue: "It is clear from the observations presented in this article

  • 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.

  • Acute Fluoride Exposure from Fluoride Gels

    Fluoride gel (i.e., 1.23% APF) is an acidic, highly concentrated fluoride treatment that dentists apply to patients teeth about two times a year. The gel contains 1.23% fluoride, which equates to 12.3 mg of fluoride for every 1 mL. Since dentists apply anywhere from 4 to 8 mL of gel