Patterns of dietary fluoride supplement use in children from birth to 96 months of age.

Objective: This paper reports on fluoride supplement use from birth to age 96 months.

Methods: As part of the Iowa Fluoride Study, questionnaires were mailed at 3 to 6- month intervals assessing use of supplements. Estimated fluoride intake from supplements was calculated as a daily fluoride intake in mg. Analyses include descriptive statistics of supplements use for individual periods, area-under-the-curve (AUC) for combined periods, and associations between fluoride supplement use and demographic covariates.

Results: Participants (n=1,388) were mostly white, with about two-thirds of parents having some college education. Percentages using fluoride supplements were 11.2% (12 months), 6.3% to 6.8% (24, 36, 48 and 60 months) and 3.6% to 4.7% (72, 84 and 96 months). Physicians prescribed most supplements until age three. The mean supplement dosage when used gradually increased from 0.25 mg (12 months) to 0.82 mg (84 months) and 0.75 mg (96 months). The effective mean daily fluoride supplement quantities ingested among users for the successive age groups from 12 to 96 months old were 0.14, 0.14, 0.25, 0.34, 0.37, 0.43, 0.48, and 0.37 mg, respectively. Estimated daily average fluoride ingested from supplements increased from 0.06 mg (birth-12 months) to 0.07 mg (12-60 months) to 0.18 mg (60-96 months).

Conclusion: Fluoride supplement use patterns varied substantially among individuals; however, average use within the intervals birth-12 months, 12-60 months, and 60-96 months was fairly consistent.