Journal of Dental Research, Vol 65, 1322-1325, Copyright © 1986 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Dental benefits of limited exposure to fluoridated water in childhood
B. A. Burt, S. A. Eklund and W. J. Loesche
Program in Dental Public Health, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-2029.
The effect of limited exposure to fluoridated water in childhood is of
potential importance in highly-mobile modern society, but the subject has
not been well-studied. This longitudinal study assessed caries experience
and S. mutans proportions from fissure plaque in school-children who lived
for at least the three years of the study in a non-fluoridated community
(0.2 mg/L). Residence histories permitted division of the cohort into those
who had lived all their lives in non-fluoridated communities, and those who
had lived for some time previously in a fluoridated community. The children
were aged 6-7 years at the beginning of the three-year study. Children with
previous residence in the fluoridated communities developed 26.8% less
caries in their permanent teeth during the study than did the children who
had lived in non-fluoridated communities all their lives (p = 0.04), and
had 29.8% less caries after three years (p = 0.02). Differences between the
groups in S. mutans proportions from fissure plaque, sampled at six-monthly
intervals throughout the study, could not be demonstrated. The dental
benefits observed could not be attributed to socio-economic differences
between the groups. Despite evidence that the benefits of limited ingestion
of fluoridated water are topical in nature, the fact that many of the
affected teeth in this study were unerupted at the time of the fluoride
exposure means that pre-eruptive benefits cannot be ruled out.
