Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct;90(10):1171-6.
doi: 10.1177/0022034511418828. Epub 2011 Jul 28.

An assessment of bone fluoride and osteosarcoma

Collaborators, Affiliations

An assessment of bone fluoride and osteosarcoma

F M Kim et al. J Dent Res. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

The association between fluoride and risk for osteosarcoma is controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine if bone fluoride levels are higher in individuals with osteosarcoma. Incident cases of osteosarcoma (N = 137) and tumor controls (N = 51) were identified by orthopedic physicians, and segments of tumor-adjacent bone and iliac crest bone were analyzed for fluoride content. Logistic regression adjusted for age and sex and potential confounders of osteosarcoma was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). There was no significant difference in bone fluoride levels between cases and controls. The OR adjusted for age, gender, and a history of broken bones was 1.33 (95% CI: 0.56-3.15). No significant association between bone fluoride levels and osteosarcoma risk was detected in our case-control study, based on controls with other tumor diagnoses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CWD has written reviews of the literature for several companies that sell, reimburse for, or do research on preventive dentistry products, most notably GlaxoSmithKline, Colgate- Palmolive, Dentsply, Quintile, Delta Dental Plans, and the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). CH has done limited consulting with Procter & Gamble. All other authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.
Box plots of interquartile range (IQR), range, and median fluoride concentrations (mg/kg bone ash). (A) Tumor-adjacent bone vs. iliac crest bone among cases that contributed both samples: IQR = 407.0-746.5 vs. 538.0-863.0; range = 121.0-1859.5 vs. 318.5-3732.5; median = 558.0 vs. 696.5 (p < 0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). (B) Tumor-adjacent bone vs. iliac crest bone among all cases: IQR = 444.5-853.0 vs. 527.0-863.5; range = 121.0-2939.0 vs. 318.5-3732.5; median = 611.0 vs. 696.5 (p = 0.10, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). (C) Tumor-adjacent bone in matched cases vs. tumor controls: IQR = 474.8-1419.5 vs. 501.0-1176.5; range = 296.0-1859.5 vs. 317.5-2053.5; median = 803.8 vs. 714.3 (p = 0.63, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). (D) Tumor-adjacent bone among all cases vs. tumor controls: IQR = 451.5-853.0 vs. 501.5-1359.0; range = 121.0-2939.0 vs. 317.5-2885.0; median = 611.0 vs. 754.0 (p = 0.0008, Wilcoxon rank-sum test).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Aschengrau A, Seage GR. (2003). Essentials of epidemiology in public health. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers
    1. Bassin EB, Wypij D, Davis RB, Mittleman MA. (2006). Age-specific fluoride exposure in drinking water and osteosarcoma (United States). Cancer Causes Control 17:421-428 - PubMed
    1. Doll R, Kinlen L. (1977). Fluoridation of water and cancer mortality in the U.S.A. Lancet 1:1300-1302 - PubMed
    1. Doll R, Kinlen L. (1978). Cancer mortality and fluoridation. Lancet 1:150. - PubMed
    1. Eble DM, Deaton TG, Wilson FC, Bawden JW. (1992). Fluoride concentrations in human and rat bone. J Public Health Dent 52:288-291 - PubMed

Publication types