Abstract
The surveillance of the concentration of fluoride in the public water supply aims to ensure the balance between the benefits (carie prevention) and risk (dental fluorosis) of water fluoridation programs. The aim of this study was to check the accuracy of two analytical methods for monitoring the concentration of fluoride in the public water supply of a Brazilian city. The STROBE checklist was used to aid the conduction of this study and report the results. It was an analytical, observational, and prospective study using the water supply of Uberlândia, MG, Brazil. We collected 126 water samples at 21 sites for six consecutive months and analyzed them using the fluoride ion selective electrode (F-ISE) method and colorimetry with SPADNS. The statistical analysis was performed descriptively and then the ANOVA and Student t-test for paired samples were applied. The results showed that the F-ISE method had a lower coefficient of variation (12.3%) than the SPADNS method (57.4%). There was no significant variation of the fluoride concentration in the water through the supply network evaluated either by F-ISE as SPADNS. We concluded that the electrometric method should be the first choice for use by laboratories that monitor fluoride concentration in the public supply water.
Highlights
Fluorine is considered the main reason for decreasing cases of carie diseases worldwide (Maia et al, 2003; Cho et al, 2014; Jordan et al, 2017)
Determining fluoride in the water requires the use of the electrometric method with specific ion electrode by the direct method, as well as the colorimetric method by the SPADNS method or the Alizarine visual colorimetric method (APHA et al, 2012)
The data reported between November 2015 and April 2016 (n = 126) revealed the mean monthly values of the fluoride concentration in the public water supply
Summary
Fluorine is considered the main reason for decreasing cases of carie diseases worldwide (Maia et al, 2003; Cho et al, 2014; Jordan et al, 2017). Fluorine has been used for controlling dental caries, resulting in a significant improvement in the oral health of the population (Frazão et al, 2018). Fluorine presents low cost (Leivas et al, 2010), high effectiveness (Frazão et al, 2018), and especially an extensive population coverage, regardless of age and social and economic conditions (Burt, 2002; Petersen and Lennon, 2004). Providing a more effective delivery of the benefit to the population requires that the fluoride concentration remains at an "optimal level" (Amaral et al, 2007). Determining fluoride in the water requires the use of the electrometric method with specific ion electrode by the direct method, as well as the colorimetric method by the SPADNS method or the Alizarine visual colorimetric method (APHA et al, 2012). The Ion Chromatography method is used (Dovidauskas et al, 2017) but sporadically
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