Excerpt:

Summary

Chronic fluorosis alters bone structure, leads to odd exostosis, to osseous appositions, to ossification of ligaments and tendons and their insertions. This can cause pain and discomfort. Radiological examination usually leads to the correct diagnosis; the most constant changes were found in films of elbows and forearms. Such films may be useful in the diagnosis of industrial fluorosis and perhaps for detecting undesirable effects of prolonged fluoride therapy. It seems clear that manifestations of fluorosis in adults appear only after prolonged exposure at high dosage. If signs of fluorosis are present, they may lead to symptoms of the osteoarticular system. Therapy with high dosage fluoride should be monitored carefully.

Print PDF

• Related Studies :

  • [Clinical and imaging study of fluoride-poisoning arthropathy].

    Objective: To probe into the clinical and imaging manifestations and mechanisms of fluorosis-associated arthropathy. Methods: Analyses were conducted on the clinical manifestations, X-rays and magnetic resonance examinations in 18 cases with fluorosis-associated arthropathy. Results: Skeletal fluorosis of different severities was revealed in the 18 cases. Major clinical symptoms were as follows: pain

  • 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

  • Early diagnosis and complete recovery from fluorosis through practice of interventions

    OBJECTIVES: The objective of this communication is to disseminate scientific and technical information for early diagnosis of Fluorosis; recent developments in care and management of patients of Fluorosis. Material and Methods: Body fluids collected from patients suspected of Fluorosis referred by hospitals, samples of drinking water used by them are the

  • Screening vs. individual detection of industrial fluorosis: a decision analysis model

    In preventive medicine and occupational health, decision-makers face uncertainty, divergent opinions, and varying needs. In the Swiss aluminum industry, screening for industrial fluorosis illustrates how decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis can provide rational and explicit models of decision-making in such contexts. Data on fluoride-exposed potroom workers are used to compare

  • Skeletal fluorosis mimicking seronegative spondyloarthropathy: a deceptive presentation

    Skeletal fluorosis is rarely recognized early and is amajor cause of morbidity.We report on a 40-year-old man with skeletal fluorosis mimicking seronegative spondyloarthropathy.

• Related FAN Content :

  • "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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Fluoride & DISH (Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis)

    Among individuals with skeletal fluorosis, the fluoride-induced changes to the spine, and the accompanying symptoms, can bear a close resemblance to DISH (Forestier's Disease). Some authors report that skeletal fluorosis can so closely resemble that DISH that the only way to distinguish the two would be to conduct an invasive bone biopsy. No studies have ever been conducted to determine what role, if any, fluoride plays in the development of DISH.

  • Fluoride & Arthritis

    The doses that American adults now routinely ingest overlap the doses that may cause chronic joint pain.