Correlation between water fluoride levels and dental caries in Davangere District, India.

Areas with natural fluoride in the drinking water are natural laboratories where the effect of fluoride on dental caries can be studied in a real life situation. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of dental caries and to study its correlation with fluoride in the drinking water in Davangere District. 1128 school children in the age groups of 12 and 15 years from 12 villages with different concentrations of fluoride in drinking water were studied. Ion Selective electrode method (Orion, USA) was used to estimate Fluoride concentrations in drinking water. Dentition Status (WHO, 1997) was used to assess dental caries status. Results showed that there was a significant trend towards reduction in dental caries with increase in water fluoride levels. A negative correlation between fluoride levels and mean DMFT was seen among the subjects with the Karl Pearson's Correlation Co efficient being -0.65 and -0.72 for the 12 and 15 year olds respectively. It was concluded from the study that although dental caries was negatively associated with increasing fluoride levels, the problem of attendant dental fluorosis should also be considered seriously.