[Current aspects of fluoride therapy of osteoporosis]

Fluorine has an effect on the bone, it increases both the number and the activity of osteoblasts and, thus, at first leads to an osteoidosis. The mineralization is somewhat lagging behind. This mode of action is best suited for low-turnover osteoporosis. For all other forms of osteoporosis, such as high-turnover osteoporosis, osteoporomalacia and mixed osteopathies, fluorine therapy as the sole treatment is not optimal. In our opinion, it is not the action principle "fluorine" that is insufficient or dangerous, but the indication for this therapy was not given in case of treatment failures or certain side effects. The decisive progress in the treatment of osteoporosis is to be expected from an essentially improved and pathophysiologically oriented differential diagnosis and the resulting differential therapy.