Fluorine in drinking water

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Abstract
The modern study of the problem of fluorosis (chronic fluorine poisoning) became possible when an Italian, Stefano Chiaie, described, as quoted by Eager (1901), an unsightly dental dystrophy, now known as ‘mottled teeth’. The efforts to trace its aetiology have been ceaselessly continued ever since, mainly by American investigators. Outstanding amongst these were Black & McKay (1916), pioneers whose researches led to the discovery made by Smith, Lantz & Smith (1931) that it was the fluorine, contained in drinking water, in a concentration of not less than 1 part per million (1 p.p.m.) and ingested during the period of calcification of the teeth, which was the direct cause of the dental dystrophy. This result was soon followed up by a number of observers, mainly in the United States under the leadership of the dental profession, amongst them physiologists, experimental pathologists, pharmacologists, veterinary surgeons, geologists and analytical chemists. The gate for further research, which in view of its magnitude and importance must be considered as being still in its infancy, has thus been thrown wide open.

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