Prevalence of fluorosis among the inhabitant of santoshpur and joypur villages of birbhum district, West Bengal

Abstract

The high level of fluoride concentration in groundwater resources has become one of the most important toxicological and geo-environmental issues in India. This study aims to assess the link between fluoride content in groundwater and its impact on the dental health in rural villages of Santoshpur and Joypur, Birbhum district, West Bengal. A total of 30 tube well water were collected from the target villages. The health impact of fluoride was evaluated based on clinical examination of dental fluorsis among school  children using the Dean’s index. In total,  seventy nine (N = 79) inhabitant between the age of 5-10 years old using water from tube wells of fluoride range of 0.18 to 0.31 mg/L were examined. Signs of dental fluorosis (Dean’s score ³ 1) were observed in all individuals. Most of the teeth (13 %) recorded Dean’s scores of 4 at Santoshpur, followed by 17 % and 12 % of Dean’s scores 3 for Santoshpur and Joypur, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that fluoride level in tube well water directly linked with dental fluorosis status of school children. However, other parameters such as BMI and head circumference also showed inverse relationship with water fluoride levels.