Advances in Dental Research, Vol 3, 168-176, Copyright © 1989 by International & American Associations for Dental Research
Effect of prenatal and postnatal fluoride on the human deciduous dentition. A literature review
I. Gedalia and L. Shapira
Fluoride passes from the mother to fetal teeth. Much of the fluoride is
taken up in secretory enamel, probably by the forming mineral apatite
crystals. Some is retained with residual proteins. The low concentration of
fluoride in the inner enamel is incorporated mainly during the secretory
stage, while the enhanced concentration in the surface enamel is produced
during the much longer maturation stage. Mature, hard enamel is generally
absent during fetal life. The clinical question is whether prenatal
fluoride imparts an additional benefit to the universally accepted effect
of postnatal fluoride. In general, surface enamel fluoride levels of
deciduous teeth increase with increasing pre- and postnatal fluoride
administration. A consistent level of caries protection has been reported
with pre- and postnatal administration of fluoride unrelated to the
acquisition of fluoride in the surface enamel. Many children develop enamel
opacities in their deciduous dentition related by various factors to enamel
mineralization disturbances in drinking water areas even low in fluoride.
Accumulation of fluoride due to an increased fluoride intake is a feature
of fluorosed enamel in the deciduous as well as permanent dentition. The
resulting mature fluorosed enamel retains a relatively high proportion of
immature matrix proteins onto the crystal surface. The degree of fluorosis
of the deciduous dentition is less compared with that of the permanent
dentition, due probably to a partial protection afforded by the maternal
loss of fluoride, formerly known as the "placental barrier".
