Dental fluorosis

To the Editor:

What is dental fluorosis? While the right amount of fluoride makes our teeth more resistant to the enamel-dissolving acids made by the bacteria in our mouths, studies have shown consuming too much fluoride while your teeth are forming can cause gaps in the crystalline structure of your tooth enamel, resulting in the white spots known as fluorosis, and in extreme cases of high fluoride intake, brown spots. The CDC says in 1986-87, 22.6% of adolescents aged 12-15 had dental fluorosis to varying degrees; in 1999-2004, 40.7% of adolescents in the same age group exhibited dental fluo...