[Taking fluoride during pregnancy: what are the benefits for the infant?]

The dental carie is one of the most frequent chronic disease in humans. The causes are well known actually, so preventive actions against dental caries have been carried out. Administration of fluoride is one of these preventive actions. It is difficult to estimate the interest of fluoride supplementation during pregnancy for the newborns: was the transplacental passage of fluoride demonstrated, and if it was, which advantage for a fetus without complete mineralisation of the teeth? Dental embryology, physiopathology of dental caries, action, metabolism and toxicity of fluoride are successively studied, so it will be easier to estimate the utility and the benefits of fluoride supplementation in pregnant women.