The Protective Effect of Breastfeeding on Dental Fluorosis Among Children in Rural Fluoride-Endemic Areas.

Living in fluoride-endemic areas and the inevitable use of groundwater for consumption have imposed children at high risk of dental fluorosis. To mitigate exposure to excessive fluoride at age of developing dentition, breastfeeding might serve as a natural public health intervention against dental fluorosis in that socially disadvantaged context. This study aimed to evaluate the preventive effect of breastfeeding against dental fluorosis in children living in fluoride-endemic areas in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand.

Hydrogeogenic fluoride in groundwater and dental fluorosis in Thai agrarian communities: a prevalence survey and case-control study.

Background: Dental fluorosis can be a disease of social inequity in access to safe drinking water. This dental public health issue becomes prominent in socially disadvantaged agrarian communities in fluoride endemic areas where the standard irrigation system is unavailable and groundwater containing natural fluoride is the major drinking water source. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis in children and to evaluate its association with fluoride in groundwater in the aforementioned setting in Thailand.