Abstract
Serum fluoride in relation to the prevalence of skeletal fluorosis was investigated in two villages in Jiangsu Province, China. In the high-fluoride village of Wamiao, 132 adults (average age 52.36 years; water fluoride 2.18±0.86mg/L; range 0.85–4.50mg/L) were surveyed. In the low-fluoride village of Xinhuai, 35 adults (average age 48.11 years; water fluoride 0.37±0.09 mg/L; range 0.21–0.55mg/L) were surveyed. Subjects were recruited by sampling according to the fluoride content of the drinking water in their household wells. When the subjects were divided into five subgroups according to their serum fluoride concentration, higher serum fluoride concentration was strongly associated with a higher prevalence of skeletal fluorosis in the form of a significant positive dose-response relationship (regression equation: Y = –27.29+890.42X–223.20X2). In Wamiao village a significant difference was also found between serum fluoride concentrations in 41 subjects with X-ray detectable skeletal fluorosis and in 91 subjects without X-ray detectable skeletal fluorosis. Gender related differences in serum fluoride concentration, household well water fluoride, and the prevalence of skeletal fluorosis were not found in the subjects in Wamiao village. These findings indicate that serum fluoride concentrations have a significant positive dose-response relationship with the prevalence of skeletal fluorosis in an endemic fluorosis area associated with high-fluoride drinking water.
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Endemic genu valgum and other bone deformities in two villages of Mandla district in central India
An epidemiological investigation was undertaken in the villages of Tilaipani and Hirapur located in Mandla District of Central India to determine the cause and extent of a peculiar skeletal deformity characterised by knock knee (genu valgum) occurring mainly among children. In Tilaipani, 74.4% of children and adolescents below age 20
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X-Ray analysis of 80 patients with severe endemic fluorosis caused by coal burning
Radiographs of 80 patients with severe endemic fluorosis of coal-burning type [CBEF] - 49 males and 31 females aged 30 to 70 years - were analysed to examine the changes to the bone substance, peripheral structure of bone, and joints. The changes to bone substance were: 1) osteosclerosis type, 62
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Fluoride's effects on the formation of teeth and bones, and the influence of genetics.
Fluorides are present in the environment. Excessive systemic exposure to fluorides can lead to disturbances of bone homeostasis (skeletal fluorosis) and enamel development (dental/enamel fluorosis). The severity of dental fluorosis is also dependent upon fluoride dose and the timing and duration of fluoride exposure. Fluoride's actions on bone cells predominate
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High cadmium concentrations in areas with endemic fluorosis: a serious hidden toxin?
Environmental contamination with cadmium (Cd) and fluorine (F) and the associated health impacts on humans have raised significant concerns in the literature, but the additional health risks created by Cd have not been investigated in areas with endemic fluorine intoxication (fluorosis). Here, we report for the first time that naturally
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Enduring fluoride health hazard for the Vesuvius area population: the case of AD 79 Herculaneum
BACKGROUND: The study of ancient skeletal pathologies can be adopted as a key tool in assessing and tracing several diseases from past to present times. Skeletal fluorosis, a chronic metabolic bone and joint disease causing excessive ossification and joint ankylosis, has been only rarely considered in differential diagnoses of palaeopathological
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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.
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"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.
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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.
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Fluoride & Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spaces in the spine that results in pressure being placed on the spinal cord and/or nerve roots. Although stenosis can develop without symptoms, it may produce numbness, tingling, pain and difficulty in walking, as well as a heavy/tired feeling in the legs. It is estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 Americans currently have symptoms of spinal stenosis. Skeletal fluorosis is one cause of stenosis.
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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.
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