Fluoride and Health

The effectiveness of fluoride at preventing dental caries has been known for over 70 years. Fluoride has been incorporated into many vehicles, whose effectiveness has been demonstrated in many systematic reviews of scientific literature. The improvement in oral health recorded in many countries over the past 40 years has been due largely to the use of fluoride. This session will accept the effectiveness of fluoride in caries prevention and will examine other aspects of fluoride and health, particularly concerned with the ingestion of fluoride. The aims of the session are: to inform decision-makers and teachers about current knowledge regarding safety aspects of fluoride; and, to inspire young researchers to take the science forward. The questions for the session to answer are:

What contribution does fluoride make to health?

What levels of fluoride are safe?

Are there factors (e.g. under-nutrition) which influence the association between fluoride and fluorosis?

How can fluoride intake be measured?

What are current authoritative guidelines for fluoride intake?

How do recorded intakes compare with these guidelines? and

What are the priorities for research and policy in this area?

The session will be in three parts: first, the effect of excessive consumption of fluoride; second, measurement of fluoride intake; and third, recorded fluoride intakes in children and adults, and current guidelines for fluoride ingestion. These will be examined in turn, with each of the three speakers (Marília Buzalaf, Steve Levy and Yoshinobu Maki) contributing to each of the three topics, with time for discussion at the end of each topic. The moderator (Andrew Rugg-Gunn) will set the scene at the start of the session and present some conclusions at the end of the session. Areas of uncertainty will be identified for further research.