Prevalence of Fluorosis among Patients Visiting a Private College and Hospital in Chennai, India

Abstract

Dental fluorosis is a tooth malformation caused by the intake of excess fluoride from various sources, such
as water, food, and air, during tooth development and mineralization. The regional concentration of fluoride
and extensive application of fluoride to prevent dental caries have resulted in the high incidence of this
malformation. Though many institutional studies on fluoride concentration and its adverse effects have been
conducted , the result is highly scattered and needs to be systematically summarized for better utilization.
Hence the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of fluorosis and its severity among the patients
visiting a private teaching hospital in a non fluorosis endemic area in Chennai. It is a retrospective cross
sectional study was carried out and the case records of patients having fluorosis was collected by reviewing
patient records and analyzing the data of 86000 patients from June 2019- April 2020. Patients screened
for Dean’s Fluorosis index were selected. The data was collected and subjected to statistical analysis and
correlation using the SPSS software. The results showed that fluorosis was found to be more prevalent in
males (71.5%) than females (28.5%) , it was also found that 37.5 % of the patients had mild fluorosis. It was
observed that patients presented with mild fluorosis especially in the upper arch in our hospital.