Bovine dental fluorosis: histologic and physical characteristics.

Incisor teeth from 5- to 6-year-old Holstein-Friesian cattle maintained on a ration averaging 40 ppm F annually from 4 months of age were analyzed by a variety of histologic techniques. These techniques included photomicroscopy, microradiography, protein staining, and microhardness testing. The features of fluorotic enamel that were noted were: hypomineralized outer enamel, coronal cementum hyperplasia, disrupted subsurface pigment band, hypoplastic pits, puckered incremental lines, periodic radiolucent regions, positive protein staining, and decreased microhardness of the outer enamel. These results were similar to the lesions of dental fluorosis observed in other species, and explain the external appearance of fluorotic bovine teeth observed under field conditions.