“In previous publications, evidence was presented showing that the ingestion of fluorides during the formative stages of amelogenesis did, in fact, have an effect on the developing dentition, that the element was retained in blood and certain soft tissues and that a small percentage of patients manifested adverse systenric reactions. The data presented in this report confirm aud extend the findings in a larger number of subjects.”
“The study of a group of people living in Bartlett and Cameron, Tex., reported there is one of several related studies designed to provide information on the effects of excessive amounts of fluoride occurring naturally in a water supply.”
“A previous study of oral conditions among 61 laboratory workers exposed to various uranium fluorides, fluorine gas, hydrofluoric acid and calcium fluoride for up to thirty-six months, disclosed normal findings. To ascertain whether chronic exposure to relatively higher concentrations of atmospheric fluorides can produce oral changes in workers, the following dental survey was conducted.”
We do know the use of drinking water containing as little as 1.2 to 3.0 parts per million of fluorine will cause such developmental disturbances in bones as osteosclerosis, spondylosis, and osteopetrosis, as well as goiter, and we cannot afford to run the risk of producing such serious systemic disturbances in applying what is at present a doubtful procedure intended to prevent development of dental disfigurements among children. […] Because of our anxiety to find some therapeutic procedure that will promote mass prevention of caries, the seeming potentialities of fluorine appear speculatively attractive, but, in the light of our present knowledge or lack of knowledge of the chemistry of the subject, the potentialities for harm far outweigh those for good.
Distribution of the element fluorine is so widespread throughout nature that a small intake of the element is practically unavoidable. Fluorides are general proto-plasmatic poisons, probably because of their capacity to modify the metabolism of cells by changing the permeability of the cell membrane and by inhibiting certain enzyme systems.