Abstract
This chapter describes how individuals with severe enamel fluorosis (mottled tooth enamel) became associated with fluoride in the public water supply and protection from dental caries. A comparison of caries experience with the fluoride content of public water supplies and enamel fluorosis in adolescents indicated that 1 μg fluoride/mL (1 part/million) in the water provides caries protection with minimal enamel fluorosis (sect. 1). One mechanism is the spontaneous isomorphic replacement of apatite’s hydroxide anions with fluoride, which reduces enamel solubility. A second is fluoride-mediated inhibition of enolase, which retards bacterial acid production at teeth surfaces. These findings led to the use of fluoride in toothpastes, which provides better protection from caries at tooth surfaces than water fluoridation alone (sect. 2). The chapter concludes with a discussion of potentially harmful effects of fluoride ingestion (sect. 3).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Levine, M. (2011). Fluoride. In: Topics in Dental Biochemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88116-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88116-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-88115-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-88116-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)