Fluoride, the environment, and human health.

Abstract

The success of water fluoridation and other forms of fluoride therapy in combating dental caries is well established and beyond dispute. Claims linking fluoridated water with mongolism, cancer mortality, mutagenic or birth effects, and sensitivity have either been unconfirmed or found lacking in substance [I]. However, toxic properties of fluoride ion have been known for more than a century, and margin between a safe daily intake of fluoride and a potentially harmful one is impressively small [2]. When a substance can be both beneficial and, in excess, harmful, it is important to ensure that some individuals are not overexposed to that substance. Writing in Science, Leverett [3] has pointed out that the widespread use of fluorides may have created a situation in which we are approaching a mass of fluoride in environment, which is eliminating dental caries as a public health problem in United States, and some other nations of This statement summarises paradoxical nature of fluoride. While tooth decay does not kill or cripple, it does cause a disproportionate amount of pain and misery across every age and social group in developed countries of world. Hence, success of fluoride in reducing incidence of this ubiquitous and costly disease is to be welcomed. On other hand, prospect of a critical mass—or more—of fluoride in environment could have serious implications. Fluoride at very low concentrations is phytotoxic and harmful to livestock; and in man, excessive intakes of fluoride over many years may lead to a well-defined disorder, skeletal fluorosis, which can affect teeth, skeletal tissues, and, secondarily, nervous system [4]. While scientific knowledge of fluorides and their effects on human health is considerable, it is by no means complete, and most studies that comprehensively review topic are able to identify areas in need of