Teeth mottling

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 16

Teeth mottling

Sir,—Mr Drinnan, the principal dental officer, is quoted in “The Press” of July 25 as saying “Extensive studies by the Medical Research Council refute any of Mr Colquhoun’s claims of unsightly teeth mottling to any degree.” The mottling, which Mr Drinnan admits occurs, was not “aesthetically unacceptable,” he said. The Medical Research Council study which claims to refute my findings was carried out following a suggestion from the Health Department. It used a purely subjective assessment, by a single examiner, of what was “aesthetically acceptable.” My study used an objective measure: presence of discolouration or pitting of the fluorosed enamel surface. Parents, and the children themselves, agree with me that teeth discoloured or pitted by fluoride are disfigured. But to me, and the parents, disfigurement, is not the important issue. Any fluoride mottling, whether disfiguring or not, is a sign of chronic systemic toxicity by an introduced chemical. No wonder most of the world has rejected fluoridation.—Yours, etc., JOHN COLQUHOUN. Auckland, July 30, 1985.