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January 8, 2011

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US tackles issue of fluorosis in children

FLUOROSIS is unexpectedly common in children ages 12 through 15. And it appears to have grown much more common since the 1980s.

The United States government is expected to release two related Environmental Protection Agency studies which look at the ways Americans are exposed to fluoride and the potential health effects. This shift away from government's praise of the benefits of fluoride is sure to re-energize groups that oppose it.

Fluoridation has been fought for decades by people who worried about its effects, including conspiracy theorists who feared it was a plot to make people submissive to government power.

Fluorosis, which discolors teeth, is considered the main downside related to the fluoridation of water.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 23 percent of children ages 12-15 had fluorosis in a study done in 1986 and 1987. That rose to 41 percent in the more recent study, which covered the years 1999 through 2004.

Except in the most -severe cases, health officials -considered the discoloring of fluorosis to be a welcome trade-off for the protection fluoride provides against cavities.

 

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