FLUORIDE IN DENTISTRY (2nd Edition)

The above two books by dental scientists have been received by this editor for review. The first is intended for use by dentists and dental students, as was the first edition. Many dental researchers have contributed to this updated survey of dental uses of fluoride. What is remarkable about Fluoride in Dentistry (2nd Edition), especially to anyone concerned with a more interdisciplinary approach to fluoride research, is its extreme selectivity of evidence. For example, the first chapter of the Section "Clinical uses of fluoride", on the subject of water fluoridation, starts and ends with the view, usual in dental literature, that fluoridation is both effective and safe. Totally omitted from its lengthy list of references are comprehensive recent studies and reviews which indicate little or no effectiveness and seriously question the safety of fluoridation. Similarly, the three chapters on fluoride and bones, including a piece headed "Concentration of fluoride in bone", do not cite the important research of Finnish scientists Alhava and Arnala, who actually measured and reported very high fluoride concentrations in human bone after 10 or more years residence in a fluoridated city. Even more disappointing is the chapter "Fluoride toxicology and health effects," wherein only acute fluoride toxicity is discussed. A brief piece at its end, headed "Sublethal toxic effects of fluoride", considers only dental fluorosis. The extensive early studies by Waldbott and others, as well as more recent investigations reporting skeletal and non-skeletal toxic effects of fluoride, published in this and other journals, are completely ignored.