Fluoride program project: year one

The public health use of fluoride in community water supplies for the prevention of dental caries is accepted worldwide, and the safety and efficacy of its use in trace concentrations in this manner have been repeatedly documented. Because of its cariostatic property, fluoride is increasingly being added to other dental health products, and the resulting increase in exposure of populations to fluoride has renewed consideration of the margin of safety which exists between safe and toxic levels of fluoride exposure. There is cause for concern, particularly in cases where fluoride metabolism may be altered by impaired physiological function. Because of this, investigators at the Oral Health Research Institute of the Indiana University School of Dentistry are currently conducting a series of studies as part of a five-year NIDR-funded Program Project to study the pharmacological effects of fluoride in selected human and animal populations. This article briefly summarizes results from the first year of the five-year program.