Fluorosis in the Skeleton

Skeletal Fluorosis

Dental fluorosis is the first visible sign of fluoride poisoning.  It is not a chronic, painful, debilitating disease, but skeletal fluorosis can be.  If a person has dental fluorosis, they may have it in their bones as well.  It is possible to get fluoride poisoning even if a person has not taken supplements or been drinking water from a public water system where fluoride has been added. 

I  learned about other causes of skeletal fluorosis on Wikipedia.  They include:  1. Inhalation of fluoride dusts/fumes by industry workers.  2. Burning coal as an indoor fuel source, a common practice in China.  3. Drinking water with naturally occurring fluoride.  4. Consumption of fluoride from the drinking of tea, particularly a post-fermented tea called brick tea, also a common practice in China.  5. Fluoride-laden water from deep bore wells, which is common in India.  More than half of the ground water sources in India have a high fluoride content.  6. People in Tibet drink a poor-quality pu-erh tea that causes fluorosis.

Volcanic activity is also a cause fluorosis.  The eruption of a volcano in Iceland, Hekla, in 1693 led to fatalities of both people and livestock from fluorosis and sulfur dioxide gases.  It is estimated that 25% of the Icelandic population, and 50–80% of the livestock, were killed after the 1783 eruption of another volcano in Iceland, Laki, under similar circumstances.

Case Report of Skeletal Fluorosis

In 2007, four medical doctors from India, R. Gupta, A. Kumar, S. Bandhu, and S. Gupta wrote an article "Skeletal Fluorosis Mimicking Seronegative Arthritis" in the Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology.  The doctors from India give details of a case report of a 35-year-old woman with the following symptoms:  1. Joint pain in the lower back, both heels, and one knee  2. Increased frequency of stools with pain in the abdomen  3. Brownish stains on teeth  4. Tenderness in the lumbar area of the spine restricting movement.  The patient had been taking anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis and had not felt relief, so the doctors performed tests to get more information.  Two important facts led the doctors to suspect the patient had fluorosis:  1. Increased bone density with calcification (hardening caused by calcium) of ligaments and tendons in the pelvis  2. Her place of residence being New Delhi where the disease is common (p. 154).

The doctors tested the patient's blood and urine for fluoride levels, and took samples of the drinking water coming from a hand pump in her home.  All of the tests showed elevated fluoride levels, which led to a diagnosis of fluorosis.  Skeletal fluorosis is defined as a metabolic bone disease caused by ingesting too much fluoride in either water or food.  New Delhi is an area where fluoride occurs naturally and is not added to drinking water (pp. 154-155). The importance of the diagnosis was made clear when the doctors asserted: "The patient in our report presented with symptoms like those of enteropathic [disease of the intestinal tract] arthritis and the diagnosis of fluorosis could have been missed if attention had not been given to the increased density in the pelvic bones and ligamentous calcification" (p. 155).

Both India and China have documented cases of skeletal fluorosis in places where the amount of fluoride in the water was over 1 ppm, but it has also been found in cities where the amount was as low as 0.7 ppm. (ppm means parts per million, or milligrams per liter. This measurement is the mass of a chemical per unit volume of water.) Experience has taught these doctors to advise all physicians to thoroughly investigate possible cases of fluorosis. They declared, ". . . fluorosis is a common mimic of seronegative arthritis . . . " (p. 155).  

These are x-rays of the patient described above from New Delhi, India.

(A) X-ray of the pelvis revealed increased bone density along with calcification of ligaments and tendon (arrows). 

(B) X- ray of the ankle revealed calcified Achilles' tendon (arrow) (p. 155).

These photos show how skeletal fluorosis can deform the body.

Bones Become So Soft They Will Not Support The Body
Agenda Global 21 (2012)

Both India and China have documented cases of skeletal fluorosis in places where the amount of fluoride in the water was over 1 ppm, but it has also been found in cities where the amount was as low as 0.7 ppm.  (ppm means parts per million, or milligrams per liter.  This measurement is the mass of a chemical per unit volume of water) (p. 155).

Fluoride has caused the bone structure to change.
Memory Shock (2011)

The photo to the right is an x-ray of a child with skeletal fluorosis.  Fluoride substitutes for calcium in bones causing them to become soft.  The bones become so soft that the shape easily deforms as a child grows (Memory Shock, 2011).

References

Agenda Global 21. (2012). Publicado em Mitos e Fraudes | Tags Corrupção, Fraudes, Mentiras, Saúde Deixar um comentário. Retrieved from Website: http://agendaglobal21.wordpress.com/category/mitos-e-fraudes/

Gupta R, Kumar A, Bandhu S, Gupta S. (2007). Skeletal fluorosis mimicking seronegative arthritis. Scandinavian Journal Of Rheumatology [serial online], 36(2):154-155.

MemoryShock. (2011). JT Round 3 - Rising Against vs westcoast - Happy People? A Member of AboveTopSecret.com. Retrieved from Website: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread660579/pg1#pid10866661 

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2012). Skeletal Fluorosis. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved from Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_fluorosis