Abstract
The aim of this prospective, comparative study was to investigate the bone mineral density (BMD) changes in a group of early postmenopausal Turkish women with endemic skeletal fluorosis and to study effects of endemic fluorosis on BMD. Bone mineral density of L2-L4 vertebra, femur neck, femur trochanter, and Ward’s triangle were measured in 45 female patients with endemic skeletal fluorosis and 41 age-matched controls by dual X-ray absorbtiometry (DXA). The BMD of L2-L4 vertebra and Ward’s triangle were higher in the endemic fluorosis group than in the control group (P < 0.001). Patients with endemic fluorosishad higher femur neck and femur trochanter BMDs than did controls (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). There was a positive correlation between serum fluoride content and BMD at the spine (r = 0.345, P = 0.001), femoral neck (r = 0.274, P = 0.011), Ward’s triangle (r = 0.295, P = 0.006), and trochanter (r = 0.217, P = 0.045). In conclusion, higher bone mineral density levels were seen in early postmenopausal women with endemic skeletal fluorosis. BMD measurement is a tool in the diagnosis and management of this preventable crippling disease.
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Medical aspects of excessive fluoride in a water supply
A 10-year study of 116 persons in Bartlett and 121 in Cameron, Tex., was conducted to determine if prolonged exposure to fluoride in the water supply of Bartlett had produced detectable physiological effects. Bartlett's water contained about 8 p.p.m. F until 1952, when an experimental defluoridation unit was installed, reducing the
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Osteoporosis--an early radiographic sign of endemic fluorosis.
Radiological investigation of skeletal fluorosis was carried out among the inhabitants from two areas where the fluoride content of water was high, using both conventional radiography and radiographic measurements of bone mineral content (BMC). Of 139 cases in the first group, 68 presented bone abnormalities while 21 of 54 cases in the
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A roentgenologic study of a human population exposed to high-fluoride domestic water; a ten-year study
As shown in Table 1, a limited number of participants from both Bartlett and Cameron showed some degree of roentgenographic bone change but, in general, these changes were minimal. There was a larger number with no observable change in the ten-year interval, a fact disregarded or unreported in most fluoride
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Radiological spectrum of endemic fluorosis: relationship with calcium intake
Skeletal fluorosis continues to be endemic in many parts of India. Osteosclerosis and interosseous membrane calcification have long been regarded as hallmarks of this disease. Our study showed in addition a wide variety of radiological patterns: coarse trabecular pattern, axial osteosclerosis with distal osteopenia and diffuse osteopenia. Subjects with osteopenic changes had
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Fluorosis with report of an advanced case.
It is quite possible that endemic centres [of skeletal fluorosis] exist but that the cause of the disabling spondylitis or other joint affections has not been determined, and a diagnosis of chronic arthritis has resulted. Few cases in Canada or the United States will be found to be as dramatic
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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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"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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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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Skeletal Fluorosis & Individual Variability
One of the common fallacies in the research on skeletal fluorosis is the notion that there is a uniform level of fluoride that is safe for everyone in the population. These "safety thresholds" have been expressed in terms of (a) bone fluoride content, (b) daily dose, (c) water fluoride level, (d) urinary fluoride level, and (e) blood fluoride level. The central fallacy with each of these alleged safety thresholds, however, is that they ignore the wide range of individual susceptibility in how people respond to toxic substances, including fluoride.
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Fluoride Magnifies Impact of Repetitive Stress on Joints
Research has repeatedly found that fluoride's effect on the skeleton is most pronounced in the bones and joints that undergo the greatest strain. Indeed, both the symptoms of fluorosis (i.e., joint pain and stiffness) as well as the radiological findings (e.g., exostoses, interosseuous membrane calcification) have been found to occur earliest, and most severely, in the joints
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