A Study of trend of Dental Fluorosis in the North Gujarat

Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of Dental Fluorosis in endemic areas of North Gujarat. The objective of this study was to review research on dental fluorosis prevalence in villages of North Gujarat which are endemic for fluorosis. Methodology: A population based survey was done in hundred families of the ten villages of North Gujarat which were selected through Random Sampling technique. These were the same families which were studied in IWMI's Study (2004) by the team headed by Dr.RajnarayanIndu and Dr.Tushaar Shah. In 100 families having 473 family members, 282 persons were examined clinically for Dental fluorosis. The clinical grading of these people was done based on Dean’s Index criteria.The fluoride levels of these villages were taken from IWMI's Study (2004) Results: The overall prevalence of Dental fluorosis was 74.1 % among 282 people examined. Following results were obtained. Mild fluorosis was present in 44.3%, Moderate fluorosis in 25.5%, Severe Fluorosis in 4.3% of total people examined. The Dental fluorosis was absent in 12.8% of people and about 13.1% were not identified as they were edentulous. It was also observed that in almost all the age groups rights from 8 yrs. upto 62 yrs. have almost 80% of the people showing the symptoms of Dental fluorosis. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained it can be concluded that Dental fluorosis is a major Public Health problem in these ten villages of North Gujarat. The detailed classification of persons having Dental Fluorosis into Mild, Moderate and Severe based on Dean’s index was first time done in this study to reveal authentic picture of the Dental Fluorosis in these endemic villages of North Gujarat. The previous studies on fluorosis in North Gujarat didn’t capture this detailed classification of Dental Fluorosis.