Study of Effect on Teeth of Intermittent Fluoridation of a Community Water Supply

Abstract
Mouth mirror and explorer examinations were made of the teeth of white children (894) 6-17 years of age in Pulaski, (Giles County, Tennessee) elementary and high schools. Similar examinations (542) of the same age groups were completed in Fayetteville, (Tennessee), elementary and high schools. The municipal water supply of Pulaski is Richland Creek, fed by a system of creeks that flow over and through regions rich in phosphate rock that have a high F content. The water samples taken in the Pulaski distr. system vary in Fl content (0.2 to 1.3 ppm.), while the Fayetteville system is Fl-free. The study indicates that lower DMF (decayed, missing or filled) rates occur where there is an intermittent fluoridation of the municipal water supply. Other results indicate that there is a relation between the phosphate rock of the area and the Fl content found in the ground and surface water of the areas studied. The richer the phosphate rock in an area the higher the Fl content that may be expected in the water.

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