THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REPORTED TOOTHPASTE USAGE IN INFANCY AND FLUOROSIS OF PERMANENT INCISORS

Objective To examine a possible relationship between reported toothbru shing habits in infancy and fluorosis of permanent maxillary incisors at age 8-9 years. Design Comparison of clinical findings with retrospe ctive survey data. Setting Five primary schools in the City of Birming ham where the water is fluoridated at 1.0 mg F/l. Subject and methods Results of clinical examinations were compared with historical data co llected via parental questionnaires. Maxillary central incisors of 325 consecutive children were examined for fluorosis clinically and photo graphically according to the criteria of the Modified Thylstrup and Fe jerskov Index. 112 children had fluorosis and 213 did not. Information concerning toothbrushing habits in infancy was obtained via a questio nnaire to parents who were also asked to add paste to a brush in a sim ilar way to when the children were small. From a combination of questi onnaire replies and paste weights the amount of fluoride that each chi ld may have ingested from toothpaste each day was then estimated. Resu lts Highly significant associations were found between estimated fluor ide ingestion from toothpaste and fluorosis. The mean DMF score of the fluorosis group was half that of the fluorosis-free children. The pre valence of fluorosis among children in ACORN group A-C was significant ly greater than in groups D-F. Conclusions The results of the study su ggest that toothpaste swallowing may be a factor in the production of fluorosis.