Dietary Fluoride Related to Fluoride Content of Teeth

¹ Department of Food Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

1. Each of 42 permanent teeth extracted from children in St. John's, Newfoundland, was separated into enamel and dentin, and the two fractions were analyzed for fluoride. The analytical results were compared statistically with results from similar assays of teeth from Ontario cities. The St. John's teeth were exposed to a high-fluoride diet, while those from Ontario represent exposure to a low-fluoride diet.

2. It is concluded that some of the fluoride present in the foods—tea, fish, and bone meal—can be absorbed and retained in human teeth.

3. Evidence presented indicates that the use of these high-fluoride-content foods in the diet leads to an increased level of fluoride in the dentin and enamel of children's teeth in St. John's, as compared with teeth from children on the low-fluoride Ontario diet.

4. The amount of fluoride in the dentin of children's teeth in St. John's is found to increase with the age of the child.