31.8.14

Fluoride Use in Caries Prevention in the Primary Care Setting

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/08/19/peds.2014-1699.full.pdf

Fluoride Use in Caries Prevention in the Primary Care Setting. Melinda B. Clark, Rebecca L. Slayton and SECTION ON ORAL HEALTH. Pediatrics; originally published online August 25, 2014; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2014-1699

[Comentario en una revista de noticias médicas online]
Pediatricians should prescribe fluoride as soon as their patients' teeth emerge, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says in new guidelines.
Pediatricians should prescribe fluoride as soon as their patients' teeth emerge, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says in new guidelines.
Published online August 25 in Pediatrics, the clinical report lays out specific recommendations for children at each stage of development.
Although the AAP endorsed the guidelines on fluoride use from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2001, it is only now incorporating them into its own publications.
Fluoride has both risks and benefits for children, and pediatricians must be aware of these to promote their patients' oral health, write report authors Melinda B. Clark, MD, and Rebecca L. Slayton, DDS, PhD.
Although largely preventable, dental caries remains the most common chronic childhood disease in the United States. Research long ago established the effectiveness of fluoride in stopping the progression of the disease.
Fluoride use does carry some risks. The best established risks are fluorosis, subsurface hypomineralization, and porosity between developing enamel rods. Fluorosis has been increasing the last 2 decades, as sources of fluoride have become more prevalent, and it now affects about 41% of US adolescents, the authors report.
In mild cases, fluorosis takes the form of clinically insignificant striations and opaque areas. Moderate to severe cases, which are rare in the United States, can cause pitting, brittle incisor edges, and weakened grove anatomy in permanent 6-year molars. However, the risk for fluorosis development largely passes by age 8 years.
Fluoride also can also be toxic when consumed in very large quantities. The authors estimate the toxic dose of elemental fluoride at 5 to 10 mg/kg body weight. For this reason, they recommend limiting the quantity prescribed at 1 time to no more than a 4-month supply and providing supervision for fluoride use by small children.