§ Mr. HurstTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the incidence of dental fluorosis in children, and its relationship to areas where the fluoride levels in the public water supply exceed one part per million. [57461]
§ Mr. MilburnA national survey of children's dental health is undertaken every ten years. The 1993 survey, in which the teeth of over 17,000 children aged between five and fifteen years attending state schools throughout the United Kingdom were examined, was the first survey to include examination for enamel opacities. Some 1,700 12-year-olds were examined of whom 39 per cent. had one or more enamel opacity. We estimate that about half of these opacities could have been due to dental fluorosis which is a cosmetic effect which, where required, can often be removed by non-invasive dental procedures. The sample was not large enough to investigate any correlation between the incidence of opacities and the level of fluoride in drinking water, but this will be among the items considered in the planning of the next survey.