What causes fluorosis?
Trauma, infection and medication are all possible causes of mottling or staining of teeth, excess fluoride is just one possible cause. Fluorosis normally presents as a mild mottling of teeth when high levels of fluoride have been ingested during the formation of the tooth enamel; it is not dangerous and mild cases do not affect the aesthetics or health of your teeth. Very high levels of fluoride can however cause brown staining or pitted enamel, although this is uncommon, and is caused by children swallowing too much fluoride from toothpaste or fluoride tablets rather than from drinking fluoridated water. To reduce the likelihood of fluorosis, health authorities recommend that children use only a small amount of toothpaste (the size of a small pea) on their toothbrush, and rinse after brushing. Water fluoridation is the ideal way of providing the benefits of fluoride, as it delivers very low levels on a regular basis, like naturally fluoridated water.
