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There is no relationship between bone fluoride levels and osteosarcoma, according to a study by the International and American Associations for Dental Research.
The findings were published in the Journal of Dental Research.
There has been controversy regarding the correlation between bone fluoride and osteosarcoma in this case-control study, which was based on controls with other tumor diagnoses.
To compile the data, patients were identified by doctors in the orthopedic departments of nine hospitals from 1993 to 2000. The study group comprised incident cases of primary osteosarcoma and the control group comprised patients with recently diagnosed malignant brain tumors. The specimens were reviewed for fluoride content.
There was no major difference in the bone fluoride levels between the cases and the controls.
To determine their numbers in the study, logistic regression of the incident cases and tumor controls, after being adjusted for age, sex and possible confounders of osteosarcoma, was used. This method estimated odds ratios and 95 percent confidence levels.
The debate about the correlation has gone on for years, but this is the most definitive study to date that shows evidence that there is no correlation, according to IADR Vice President Helen Whelton.
Chester Douglass of Harvard University led the study.
The study design was approved by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, and funding was provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and NCI.
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