Fluorosis, Dental

MONDAY, Jan. 6, 2025 -- Inverse associations are observed between fluoride measurements in urine and drinking water and children's IQ, according to a review published online Jan. 6 in JAMA Pediatrics, although these findings are challenged in an accompanying editorial. Kyla W. Taylor, Ph.D., from the National Institutes of Health in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies examining children's IQ scores and prenatal or postnatal fluoride exposure. Seventy-four studies were included: 64 cross-sectional and 10 cohort studies. Fifty-two of the studies were rated as having a high risk for bias and 22 were rated as having a low risk for bias. The researchers found that inverse associations between fluoride exposure measures and children's IQ were reported in 64 studies. An inverse association between fluoride exposure and IQ was seen in an analysis of 59 studies with group-level measures of fluoride in drinking water, dental fluorosis, or other measures of fluoride exposure. A dose-response association was seen between exposed and reference groups in 31 studies reporting fluoride measured in drinking water. The association remained inverse when exposed groups were restricted to <4 mg/L and <2 mg/L and was null at <1.5 mg/L. An inverse dose-response association was seen in 20 studies reporting fluoride measured in urine. "Despite the presentation of some evidence of a possible association between IQ and high fluoride levels in water, there is no evidence of an adverse effect at the lower water fluoride levels commonly used in community water fluoridation systems," Steven M. Levy, D.D.S., M.P.H., from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, writes in an accompanying editorial. "Therefore, public policy concerning the addition of fluoride to community water systems and recommendations concerning the use of topical fluoride in its many forms should not be affected by the study findings." Abstract/Full Text Editorial (subscription or payment may be required) Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

THURSDAY, Aug. 22, 2024 -- High levels of fluoride in drinking water may dim the intelligence of children, a new U.S. government report shows. Based on an analysis of published research, the potentially controversial report marks the first time a federal agency has determined there is a link between drinking twice the recommended amount of fluoride and lower IQs in kids. "Since 1945, the use of fluoride has been a successful public health initiative for reducing dental cavities and improving general oral health of adults and children," the report stated. "There is a concern, however, that some pregnant women and children may be getting more fluoride than they need because they now get fluoride from many sources, including treated public water, water-added foods and beverages, teas, toothpaste, floss and mouthwash, and the combined total intake of fluoride may exceed safe amounts." Importantly, "the determination about lower IQs in children was based primarily on epidemiology studies in non-U.S. countries such as Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico where some pregnant women, infants and children received total fluoride exposure amounts higher than 1.5 mg fluoride/L of drinking water," the report authors stated. "The U.S. Public Health Service currently recommends 0.7 mg/L, and the World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5 mg/L." One expert welcomed the findings. “I think this [report] is crucial in our understanding” of this risk, Ashley Malin , a University of Florida researcher who recently published a study on the effect of higher fluoride levels in pregnant women on their children, told the Associated Press . The report did not try to quantify exactly how many IQ points might be lost at different levels of fluoride exposure. But some of the studies reviewed in the report suggested IQ was 2 to 5 points lower in children who’d had higher exposures. The report noted that about 0.6% of the U.S. population -- roughly 1.9 million people -- are on water systems with naturally occurring fluoride levels of 1.5 milligrams or higher. “The findings from this report raise the questions about how these people can be protected and what makes the most sense,” Malin said. The American Dental Association, which champions water fluoridation, told the AP that the organization’s experts were still reviewing the report. Fluoride is a mineral that exists naturally in water and soil. Though it can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, the researchers said. In 2015, U.S. officials lowered their recommendation for fluoride levels in drinking water to address a tooth condition called fluorosis , that can cause splotches on the teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids, the AP reported. But more recent research has pointed to a different problem, suggesting a link between higher levels of fluoride and brain development. Studies in animals showed fluoride could impact cell function in brain regions responsible for learning, memory, executive function and behavior, the AP reported. After more research continued to raise questions, the National Toxicology Program started working on a review of the available studies in 2016. The hope was that it could provide guidance on whether new fluoride-limiting measures were needed. “Since fluoride is such an important topic to the public and to public health officials, it was imperative that we made every effort to get the science right,” Rick Woychik , director of the National Toxicology Program, told the AP in explaining the length of time it took to complete the report. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- "Receipt of optimal water fluoridation [between] 2010–2020 resulted in very small positive health effects which may not be meaningful for individuals," according to the largest ever study of its kind conducted on UK adolescents and adults, (LOTUS study), published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology on 1/8/2024, reports New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF). Fluoridation neither reduced social inequalities in dental health, nor reduced the number of missing teeth, the researchers report. They write, "in high income countries, we may be reaching the limit of what can be achieved through fluorides alone." They suggest we look at diet, specifically sugar's strong link to tooth decay. Cavities are almost universal in adults exposed to fluoridated toothpaste and fluoridation from birth, they explain. NYSCOF President, attorney Paul Beeber says, "Fluoride chemicals, added to public water supplies since 1945, was projected to massively decrease tooth decay, reduce disparities, save money, and put dentists out of business. But none of that happened" A 2022 UK study of children (CATFISH study) reported fluoridation provided no clear benefits to 11-year-old's, and disparities persisted. It's not just the UK. Studies from "Australia, the US, Sweden and South Korea have demonstrated inconsistent effects across age groups and/or absolute differences so small that whether they are meaningful is debatable," the LOTUS researchers write. In 2017, US researchers reported in the American Journal of Public Health "Despite significant financial, training, and program investments [and decades of fluoridation], US children's caries [cavities] experience and inequities continued to increase over the last 20 years." It's not from lack of fluoride. Federal statistics show that 70% of US children and adolescents are fluoride-overdosed, afflicted with dental fluorosis (white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth) while 57% of adolescents still get tooth decay (65% of low-income adolescents). Beeber says, "It's unbelievable that in 2024, cities succumbing to political pressure, are poised to mandate fluoridation e.g. Buffalo and Albany NY." "Hopefully, artificial fluoridation's 79th birthday on January 25, 2024, will be its last," says Beeber. January 31 marks the beginning of a federal lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency. EPA is charged with ignoring hundreds of studies showing fluoride is neurotoxic. EPA currently sets safe levels of water fluoride contaminants at levels to ostensibly protect only bones and teeth not brains, where fluoride also collects. SOURCE New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.