Impact of source of drinking water on fluoride supplementation

Abstract

The benefits of water fluoridation and systemic fluoride to public dental health are well established. The incidence of dental caries is lower in communities with an optimal concentration of fluoride in the 1 The daily intake of fluoride as a supplement provides the same benefit in communities with water fluoride levels at less than the optimal level. 2, 3 Oral fluoride supplementation is currently recommended by both the American Academy of Pediatrics 4 and the Council on Dental Therapeutics, American Dental Association. 5 The use of bottled or filtered water in the United States has increased tremendously during recent years. 6, 7 Many households and businesses use bottled or filtered water for their and cooking needs, largely because of concerns over industrial contamination of groundwater, poor quality control of municipal and leakage of lead from water pipes, as well as the increase in health awareness. Furthermore, bottled water has become a status symbol, an alternative to soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Bottled waters may be marketed as distilled water, purified water, drinking water, mineral water, or natural spring water. They also may be carbonated (hence, sparkling) or noncarbonated. These bottled waters may serve as the major source of water for children, as well as being used to reconstitute infant formulas. Recently, several studies have focused on the fluoride content of bottled waters, 6, 8, 9 but as far as we know, no literature exists on the efficacy of filtering systems in trapping fluoride, or on the consistency of fluoride content in bottled