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Associations between dental fluorosis of the permanent and primary dentitions
Steven M Levy1, John J Warren, Barbara Broffitt
1Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, University of Iowa College of Dentistry, 328 Dental Science Building, North Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. steven-levy@uiowa.edu
Objectives:
Relatively little is known about associations between primary and permanent tooth fluorosis. In this study, associations between dental fluorosis of the permanent and primary dentitions were assessed.
Methods:
Subjects (n = 601) are in the Iowa Fluoride Study, which included fluorosis examinations of the primary and early-erupting permanent dentitions by trained dentist examiners. Relative risks, correlations, and logistic regression assessed associations between permanent tooth fluorosis and primary molar fluorosis.
Results:
Ten percent had primary molar fluorosis at age 5; 36% had definitive (mostly mild), 28% questionable, and 36% no permanent incisor fluorosis at age 9. Those with primary molar fluorosis were significantly more likely to have definitive permanent incisor fluorosis (76% vs. 32%), and permanent molar fluorosis (59% vs. 16%). The strong association between primary and permanent tooth fluorosis is independent of level of fluoride intake.
Conclusions:
Detection of primary tooth fluorosis in pre-school children should alert clinicians and parents to the high likelihood of subsequent fluorosis in the permanent dentition.
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