Fluoride toxicity
| Fluoride poisoning | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | emergency medicine |
| ICD-10 | T59.5 |
| DiseasesDB | 29228 |
| eMedicine | emerg/181 |
| MeSH | D005458 |
Although safe and good for dental health at low concentrations, sustained consumption of large amounts of soluble fluoride salts is dangerous. Referring to a common salt of fluoride, sodium fluoride (NaF), the lethal dose for most adult humans is estimated at 5 to 10 g (which is equivalent to 32 to 64 mg/kg elemental fluoride/kg body weight). Ingestion of fluoride can produce gastrointestinal discomfort at doses at least 15 to 20 times lower (0.2–0.3 mg/kg or 10 to 15 mg for a 50 kg person) than lethal doses. Although helpful for dental health in low dosage, chronic exposure to fluoride in large amounts interferes with bone formation. In this way, the most widespread examples of fluoride poisoning arise from consumption of ground water that is abnormally fluoride-rich.
For optimal dental health, the World Health Organization recommends a level of fluoride from 0.5 to 1.0 mg/L (milligrams per litre), depending on climate. Fluorosis becomes possible above this recommended dosage. As of 2015, the United States Health and Human Services Department recommends a maximum of 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water – updating and replacing the previous recommeneded range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams issued in 1962. The new recommended level is intended to reduce the occurrence of dental fluorosis while maintaining water fluoridation.
In India an estimated 60 million people have been poisoned by well water contaminated by excessive fluoride, which is dissolved from the granite rocks. The effects are particularly evident in the bone deformities of children. Similar or larger problems are anticipated in other countries including China, Uzbekistan, and Ethiopia.
Historically, most cases of acute fluoride toxicity have followed accidental ingestion of sodium fluoride based insecticides or rodenticides. Currently, in advanced countries, most cases of fluoride exposure are due to the ingestion of dental fluoride products. Other sources include glass-etching or chrome-cleaning agents like ammonium bifluoride or hydrofluoric acid, industrial exposure to fluxes used to promote the flow of a molten metal on a solid surface, volcanic ejecta (for example, in cattle grazing after an 1845–1846 eruption of Hekla and the 1783–1784 flood basalt eruption of Laki), and metal cleaners. Malfunction of water fluoridation equipment has happened several times, including a notable incident in Alaska.
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