Brasília, November 24, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The discovery of the use of fluoride as an effective means to prevent tooth decay revolutionized the war against the disease, which is still regarded as a public health problem in various countries in the world. Thanks to the addition of fluoride to water and the routine use of products containing fluoride, the incidence of cavities among children and adolescents has been falling drastically. The fluoridation of water for human consumption is recommended by hundreds of scientific and health organizations as a simple, reliable, and inexpensive method, with an annual cost of around 1 dollar per capita.

This year Brazil is commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the use of fluoride in public water supplies as a form of preventing tooth decay. The procedure was used for the first time in the country in 1953, in the city of Baixo Guandu, Espírito Santo, and became mandatory beginning in 1975, when the use of fluoridation in all water treatment stations was regulated for administrative application by Decree 76,872.

The fluoridation of water that supplies Brazilian cities is permanently monitored by specialists. Fluoride concentrations vary from region to region - average temperature affects the dilution of the product in water -, but the quantity considered ideal fluctuates between 0.70 and 1.0 ppm (part per million). Above this level, the concentration of fluoride can cause dental fluorosis, an abnormality that affects the process of dental mineralization in children between 0 and 6 years old.

The first time fluoride was used to prevent cavities was in Grand Rapids, in the United States, in 1945. Since then the adoption of fluoridation of water in all parts of the world has been recommended by international health organizations. In Brazil data from the Ministry of Health demonstrate that between 1986 and 1996, when the index of fluoridated water supplies was 42%, the incidence of cavities among children up to 12 years old declined 53%. In 2003 the percentage of people served by fluoridated water is approximately 60%.

(Information from the Communications Office of the Ministry of Health) (DAS)