Abstract

The review on fluorosis addresses the genesis of the disease, diagnostic protocols developed, mitigation and recovery through nutritional interventions. It reveals the structural and functional damages caused to skeletal muscle and erythrocytes, leading to clinical manifestations in fluorosis. Hormonal derangements resulting in serious abnormalities in the health of children and adults are discussed. Fluoride toxicity destroys the probiotics in the gut, resulting in vitamin B₁₂depletion, an essential ingredient in haemoglobin (Hb) biosynthesis. The article provides an overview of National Technology Mission on Safe Drinking Water and its contributions to fluorosis control. National Programme for Prevention and Control of Fluorosis is presently in operation in India and its focus cited. Major emphasis has been laid on a variety of disorders surfacing in India due to fluoride toxicity/fluorosis as ‘fluorosis-linked disorders’, viz. anaemia in pregnancy, schoolchildren, thyroid hormone abnormalities, hypertension, iodine deficiency disorders/goitre, renal failure and calcium+vitamin D-resistant rickets in children. The major action taken by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Government of India in establishing a Centre of Excellence for Fluorosis Research in India and its contributions are highlighted.

• Related Studies :

  • Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards.

    Excerpts: Summary Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to establish exposure standards for contaminants in public drinking-water systems that might cause any adverse effects on human health. These standards include the maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG), the maximum contaminant level (MCL), and the secondary

  • Epidemiologic health study of workers in an aluminum smelter in Kitimat, B.C. II. Effects on musculoskeletal and other systems

    A health study was carried out on 2066 workers in an aluminum smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia to study the effects of exposure to fluoride and other air contaminants encountered on the potlines on the musculoskeletal system, hemopoietic tissue, liver, and renal function. Three hundred seventy-two railway repair workers from

  • Studies on fluorosis in Mehsana District of North Gujarat.

    A survey was conducted in eighteen fluoride endemic villages in Mehsana District of North Gujarat (India). The individuals afflicted with fluorosis were examined for apparent mottled teeth and skeletal complications. Samples of urine and blood of these individuals along with drinking water were collected and compared with samples obtained from

  • Fluorosis by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, National Health, India.

    Introduction Fluorosis is a crippling disease resulted from deposition of fluorides in the hard and soft tissues of body. It is a public health problem caused by excess intake of fluoride through drinking water/food products/industrial pollutants over a long period. Ingestion of excess fluoride, most commonly in drinking-water affects the teeth

  • Dental fluorosis, nutritional status, kidney damage, and thyroid function along with bone metabolic indicators in school-going children living in fluoride- affected hilly areas of Doda District, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

    A case-control study was undertaken among the school children aged 8-15 years to know the presence and severity of dental fluorosis, nutrition and kidney status, and thyroid function along with bone metabolic indicators in Doda district situated at high altitude where drinking water was contaminated and heat stress. This study

• Related FAN Content :

  • Fluoride's Impact on Thyroid Hormones

    Up through the 1950s, doctors in Europe and South America prescribed fluoride for this purpose in patients with hyperthyroidism. (Merck Index 1968). Fluoride was selected as a thyroid suppressant based on findings dating back to the mid-19th century that fluoride is a goitrogen (a substance that can cause goiter). When used as

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Exposure Pathways Linked to Skeletal Fluorosis

    Excessive fluoride exposure from any source -- and from all sources combined -- can cause skeletal fluorosis. Some exposure pathways , however, have been specifically identified as placing individuals at risk of skeletal fluorosis. These exposure pathways include: Fluoridated Water for Kidney Patients Excessive Tea Consumption High-Fluoride Well Water Industrial Fluoride Exposure Fluorinated Pharmaceuticals (Voriconazole