Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the relationship of fluoride (F) in groundwater and dental caries in children living in the Arsanjan area of the Fars province, Iran, and also with some inorganic constituents in the water. Eight villages in Arsanjan with only groundwater sources of drinking water and essentially the same socio-economic living standards and nutritional conditions were surveyed. All 2376 children of all the villages in the three age groups of 6 (5.5-6.5), 9 (8.5-9.5), and 11 (10.5-11.5) years were examined. The F content in the village drinking water measured by the SPADNS method ranged from 0.1 to 1.2 mg/L. Besides pH, alkalinity, and total dissolved solids (TDS), the levels of CL(-), SO(4)(2-), Ca(2+), and Mg(2+) were also determined. The overall number of decayed permanent teeth (D(t)) per child ranged between 0.12 and 0.36 and the number of decayed deciduous teeth (d(t)) ranged between 1.01 and 3.30 per child. Linear regression analyses showed only a weak but no significant association between small decreases of the mean overall D(t) and d(t) and increasing water F levels. However, F was positively related to TDS, Ca(2+), and Mg(2+), but negatively related to pH with no other association between the F concentration and other parameters.