Fluoride in the prevention of osteoporosis and fractures.

Age-related fractures, especially hip fractures, produce sufficient morbidity and mortality to make osteoporosis a disease worth preventing, and accurate techniques exist to identify groups at high risk of fracture by virtue of low bone mass. While the need for prevention is evident, no specific program of fluoride use for this purpose has been devised, and epidemiologic data provide little support for the notion that exposure to fluoride reduces hip fracture incidence. At present, fluoride cannot be recommended as a prophylactic agent for the fractures that are the primary adverse health outcome of osteoporosis.