The relationship between water-borne fluoride, dental fluorosis and skeletal development in 11-15 year old Tanzanian girls.

Dental fluorosis was evaluated by a classification system, previously shown to be sensitive, and skeletal changes evaluated by bone maturity and structure. Dental fluorosis was more severe in posterior than in anterior teeth in both jaws irrespective of fluoride concentration of the drinking water. There appeared to be no dependence between fluoride content of the water and skeletal maturity or structure, but there was a definite relationship between the degree of dental fluorosis and skeletal maturity within the high fluoride area. Fluoride concentrations in the drinking water above 3 parts/10(6) seemed to affect all mineralizing tissues under formation. The unique pattern of enamel formation and mineralization renders it the only hard tissue which permits an early diagnosis of the biological effect of even low fluoride doses on the human body.