Dental fluorosis is a serious health problem caused by ingestion of fluoride in excess through water, food and air. Fluoride is a controversial trace element, on the one hand for its widely applied beneficial uses, especially in improving dental health and on the other hand for its toxic effects. Fluoride causes dental fluorosis by damaging the enamel-forming cells, called ameloblasts. The dama...

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypoplasia, demarcated opacity and dental fluorosis among schoolchildren with deciduous and permanent dentition. The association between enamel defects and dental caries was also verified. The sample consisted of 624 schoolchildren aged 5 and 309 aged 12. The dmft and DMFT indexes were used to assess dental caries prevalence, DDE to asses...

BACKGROUND Fluoridation of drinking water, despite being regarded as one of the top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century, has remained a much debated concept. Various studies on animals and aborted human fetuses have confirmed that excessive fluoride intake during infancy and early childhood, causes a number of irreversible structural and functional changes in the CNS leading...

1Medical Services of Qatar Army Forces, Doha, Qatar. Received: 07/11/02; accepted 21/06/03 ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is to draw attention to the presence and the severity of dental fluorosis in Doha (Qatar) through the high level of registered cases of fluorosis found among the groups examined. Of 4800 people aged 8–50 years, 2654 (55.29%) had dental fluorosis of some degree. This...

Several communities in Paraíba have moderate or high levels of fluoride naturally present in the drinking water. A moderate prevalence of dental fluorosis (30-40%) has been observed in some areas where the levels of fluoride are regarded as "optimal" for the region (0.6 ppm). The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of dental fluorosis in Princesa Isabel, a city with "sub-op...

OBJECTIVES To determine changes in the prevalence of dental fluorosis, and in perceptions of aesthetic concerns due to dental fluorosis after water fluoridation ceased. METHODS Schoolchildren in second and third grades were examined in 1993-94, 1996-97 and 2002-03 to determine changes in the prevalence of dental fluorosis following fluoridation cessation of the public water supplies in 1992. ...

The current article proposes a reflection on several aspect pertaining to dental fluorosis in Brazil, based on a systematic review of epidemiological surveys. The authors assess the prevalence and degrees of severity found in different studies and show that in methodological terms, there is a need for progress in procedures for population-based studies on fluorosis. Despite the different data c...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis among patients attending basic health units in Londrina. METHODS Five basic health units of the urban area were randomly selected and 434 children attending these units, born between 1986 and 1989 (9 to 12 years of age), were examined. Diagnosis of dental fluorosis was performed by means of t...