The Journal of Dental Research today published the results of a study showing that water fluoridation in the community is not associated with an increased risk of osteosarcoma. (Osteosarcoma)

More than sixty percent of the US population has access to fluoride through the water, which is considered one of the most important public health policies of the twentieth century because it contributes to a population-wide decline in dental caries.

It has been suggested that fluoride ingestion is a potential risk factor for bone cancer based on an animal study conducted in 1990.

And six of seven subsequent studies that investigated cases in humans reported that fluoride in drinking water was not associated with osteosarcoma.

This study assessed whether living in a fluoridated community was a risk factor for bone cancer by performing a secondary data analysis using data collected from two related but separate studies.

Patients were selected for both stage 1 and stage 2 US hospitals using a hospital-controlled case-matched study design.
At both stages, cases of patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma and a comparison group (controls) with patients diagnosed with other bone tumors or non-neoplastic conditions

In the first phase, the comparison (N = 209) cases (N = 440) were patients enrolled in the participating orthopedic departments from 1989-1993.

In phase 2, the comparison (N = 108) cases (N = 296) were patients who had been identified and treated by orthopedists from 1994-2000.

This analysis included all patients who met the eligibility criteria and for whom data were complete on covariates, exposures, and outcomes.

Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to correlate community water fluorescence with osteosarcoma.

The adjusted OR for osteosarcoma and living in a fluoridated area for unbottled water drinks was 0.51 (0.31 – 0.84), p = 0.008.

The same comparison adjusted OR for drinking bottled water was 1.86 (0.54 – 6.41), p = 0.326

“These findings indicate that residing in a fluoridated community is not associated with an increased risk of osteosarcoma after adjusting for race, ethnicity, income, distance from hospital, urban/rural living status, and drinking bottled water. This should not be surprising,” Chester Douglas said. fluorosis is common and osteosarcoma remains a rare disease.” Harvard Dental School, Division of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology.