Dental observations on Australian aborigines: water supplies and endemic dental fluorosis

Abstract

SummaryThis paper gives a brief outline of the water intake habits of a group of full‐blood Australian aborigines living under settlement conditions. Climate and other environmental factors which may influence water intake of the natives are discussed.Fluoride analyses are recorded for a number of native water sources and native settlement bore supplies. Samples of water collected from rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs, contain up to 0.4 parts per million fluoride. The bore water used by natives at the settlement contains approximately 1.5 parts per million fluoride.Approximately thirty per cent. of the natives between six and twenty years of age show signs of mottled enamel. If the enamel defects thus designated are caused by ingestion of excess fluoride, it is likely that a higher percentage occurrence will be revealed when the natives have used the settlement bore water continuously over a longer period.Other enamel defects, distinguished as enamel hypoplasia, frequently occur in deciduous and permanent teeth, particularly the former. It is possible that food deficiencies, childhood diseases and ingestion of excess fluoride, all contribute to these malformations. A more detailed study would be needed to determine the relative importance of the various factors involved.Fluoride contained in the settlement bore water is probably inhibiting the cariogenic effect of the preponderance of carbohydrate material in the food rationed to the natives. The progressive breakdown in dental health which might be expected to follow introduction of white man's food and eating habits has not as yet become evident among children and adolescents of the native group under observation.The occurrence of disfiguring dental fluorosis indicates that the settlement bore water is providing more fluoride than desirable under the climatic conditions prevailing at Yuendumu. In the interest of the natives as well as the white inhabitants of the settlement, consideration should be given to the need for reducing the fluoride content by appropriate filtration.