The Family and Dental Disease: V. Caries Experience among Parents and Offspring Exposed to Drinking Water Containing Fluoride

Abstract

In the community surveyed, the water supply was changed 19 yrs. ago from one containing no fluorine to one containing 1.4-2.2 p.p.m. fluorine. Thus the children had always used fluoride containing water whereas the parents had used such water for a shorter period of their life, the fluoride being absent particularly during early childhood. The data, while admittedly insufficient, indicate that a familial factor is involved since children whose parents show low incidence of dental disease also showed a low incidence while those children with one or both parents with a high incidence of dental disease were not so well protected.