Dental Fluorosis and Localized Enamel Opacities in Fluoride and Nonfluoride Danish Communities

317 children born and raised in two rural areas of Machakos District in Kenya were examined for enamel changes. All sources of drinking water were monitored for F^–– over a period of 1 year. The children were grouped according to mean annual F^–– concentrations in the drinking water: in area Al (0.10–0.46 mg/l) 78.0% of the children exhibited enamel changes as compared to 91.2% in area A2 (0.53–0.66 mg/l) and 93.8% in area B (0.54–0.93 mg/l). The prevalence and severity of enamel changes of each tooth type increased from the lowest to the highest F^–– area. The bilateral symmetry of enamel changes was marked, indicating a systemic origin, and the intraoral distribution of severity scores corresponded to the pattern of fluoride-induced enamel changes reported by other investigators. The prevalence and severity of enamel changes, taking into account the low levels of F^–– in drinking water, was surprisingly high.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enamel Changes in Two Low-Fluoride Areas of Kenya

Manji

Bælum²,

Fejerskov³

et al. 1986

“…However, most of the studies reported to date have focused on enamel defects that were associated with systemic factors [Al-Alousi et al, 1975;Wenzel and Thylstrup, 1982;Suckling et al, 1985;Ellwood and O'Mullane, 1995;Lai et al, 1997;Rugg-Gunn et al, 1997;Seow, 1997].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between the Presence of Demarcated Opacities and Hypoplasia in Permanent Teeth and Caries in Their Primary Predecessors

Zheng

King

2003

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the presence of demarcated opacities and hypoplasia on permanent teeth and the caries status of the primary predecessor teeth in a cohort of Chinese children. Methods: The study sample consisted of 250 children living in a non-fluoridated area in Southern China whose caries status of primary teeth at the age of 3–6 years had been recorded annually in a previous study. A follow-up examination of their permanent teeth was conducted when they were about 12 years old. The presence of enamel defects was determined by consensus of 2 dentists according to the modified DDE index. Results: 56.8% of the 250 children examined had demarcated opacities, while 10.8% of them had hypoplasia. Demarcated opacities and hypoplasia were found in 5.8 and 1.3% of the teeth examined, respectively. A higher prevalence of demarcated opacities was found in those permanent teeth of which their primary predecessor teeth had caries than in those without (7.5 vs. 3.8%, p < 0.001). A similar finding was obtained for the prevalence of hypoplasia (1.9 vs. 0.4%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: There was an association between caries in primary teeth and the presence of demarcated opacities and hypoplasia in their permanent successors.

“…It is possible that some teeth we scored as having questionable, very mild, or mild fluorosis in fact were af fected by idiopathic enamel opacities. Some investigators have described diffi culties in differentiating among mild flu orosis, questionable fluorosis, and idi opathic enamel opacities [ Wenzel and Thylstrup, 1982], The relatively high pre valence of fluorosis in children with in complete data was probably due to the use of other fluoride-containing products.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caries Prevalence and Dental Fluorosis in German Children in Areas with Different Concentrations of Fluoride in Drinking Water Supplies

Hellwig¹,

Klimek²

1985

Caries prevalence and dental fluorosis were recorded in children 6–16 years of age. Children born and grown up in an area with naturally fluoridated water (1–1.5 ppm F^––) had a mean DMFS score of 2.3 ± 0.3. Children who had consumed naturally fluoridated water for the 2 years prior to the study had a DMFS score of 5.6 ± 0.9. Children from the control area (0.1 ppm F^––) had a DMFS score of 6.5 ± 0.5. Children living in the natural F area showed more moderate and severe fluorosis than children from the control group. There is some evidence indicating that additional ingestion of fluoride tablets caused a higher prevalence of fluorosis in the F area.