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G Suckling

Publications and source records attributed to G Suckling.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

The severity of dental fluorosis in children exposed to water with a high fluoride content for various periods of time.

Inhabitants of the Ikeno district of Japan were accidentally exposed to drinking water containing 7.8 ppm fluoride (F) for 12 years, after which water with 0.2 ppm F was substituted. Dental examinations of local inhabitants revealed that only children aged seven years or less at the introduction or aged 11 months or more at the removal of the high-F water had fluorosis. Regular inspections were made of the 86 children between those age limits. The severity of fluorosis in three tooth types (first permanent molars, upper central incisors, and first premolars) was assessed and related to the period of use of the high-F water. Continuous exposure throughout tooth development resulted in severe changes in all three tooth types. With limited exposure, the age at the beginning and at the end was an important factor in determining the severity of the fluorosis. The pattern of change from normal to severe fluorosis differed in the three tooth types, influenced by their respective times of formation. Two 'at-risk' periods for the production of moderate or severe fluorosis were evident. One started at birth and ended early in tooth development, while the other started later and ended at eruption. The duration of F exposure, although determining the initial degree of fluorosis, did not influence the rate of post-eruptive enamel loss.

Adolescent

Proton microprobe determination of fluorine profiles in the enamel and dentine of erupting incisors from sheep given low and high daily doses of fluoride.

Developmental defects in incisors were induced by daily oral ingestion of sodium fluoride solutions. Teeth extracted at eruption from sheep that had been subjected to four different fluoride regimens--0.2 or 0.5 mg F/kg body weight daily for 6 months, 2 or 6 mg F/kg body weight daily for 21 days--were analysed for fluorine by gamma emission using a proton microprobe. Calcium and zinc profiles were also measured using proton-induced X-ray emission. Diffuse opacities, similar in appearance to mild human fluorosis, were produced by the first two regimens, whereas the last two produced hypoplastic lesions. Different distributions of fluoride were found in the unerupted enamel and dentine, and these patterns reflected variations in both the duration and concentration of the fluoride dose used to induce the fluorotic lesions.

Animals

The macroscopic and scanning electron-microscopic appearance and microhardness of the enamel, and the related histological changes in the enamel organ of erupting sheep incisors resulting from a prolonged low daily dose of fluoride.

The hypothesis that diffuse opacities in enamel result from a chronic, mild disturbance to ameloblast activities was tested using fluoride. Three sheep (HF) were dosed orally with 0.5, and 3 (LF) with 0.2 mg fluoride/kg body weight daily for 6 months. A control sheep (C) received no additional fluoride. The 7 sheep were killed at or close to the time of emergence of their permanent central incisors. One tooth from each sheep was sectioned longitudinally. The enamel related to the secretory (S) and maturation (M) phases of ameloblast activity at the start of fluoride dosing was determined from a tetracycline marker. The pattern of mineralization of the outer 150 micron of the cut labial enamel was assessed using microhardness testing. The SEM appearance of the acid-etched outer enamel was compared in S and M zones in 5 teeth. The enamel of the C tooth was translucent. Diffuse opacities, similar in appearance to human fluorosis, were present in all fluoride-treated teeth. Hardness values in the outer 70 micron of the enamel decreased as the fluoride dose increased and, in the HF teeth, were lower in the S zone than in the M zone. Fluoride given during the M phase induced a surface hypomineralization which increased in degree and depth when fluoride was also given during the S phase. The SEM appearance of M and S enamel was similar in 2 LF and 1 HF teeth but, in the other HF tooth, S enamel but not M enamel had a disordered prism structure and loosely-packed crystals in an abnormal organic matrix. Histological examination revealed that ameloblasts remained in only 4 of the 7 teeth and that their regression and the formation of the cementum adjacent only to the labial enamel were progressing abnormally.

Ameloblasts

The macroscopic appearance and associated histological changes in the enamel organ of hypoplastic lesions of sheep incisor teeth resulting from induced parasitism.

Twenty-one penned female sheep were infected with a high dose of nematodes (200,000 Trichostrongylus vitrinus and 25,000 Ostertagia circumcincta) during first incisor development when aged 7-8 months. Three sheep were infected with 200,000 T. vitrinus only; 10 sheep were untreated. Anorexia, lassitude and severe diarrhoea were seen in 14 of the infected sheep after 21-26 days. Anthelmintic was given to sheep showing undue distress to end the infection and to all remaining sheep on day 33. Animals were killed at 3 stages: during the infection, at intervals during later tooth development, and at the time of eruption of the incisor teeth, 7-8 months after the parasites were given. Hypoplasia of the labial enamel of 15 out of 19 teeth from sheep killed after recovery from the infection was classified according to the extent and depth as pits, grooves or larger areas of missing enamel with ledge-formation cervically. The amount of missing enamel related to the severity of the systemic disturbance which affected the secretory ameloblasts. During the period of active infection, some secretory ameloblasts showed vacuolization or were shorter than in controls; some cells were no longer adjacent to the organic matrix; some continued to function but abnormally and later became separated from the retained organic matrix by connective tissue. Cervically-placed ledges resulted either from the recovery and resumption of activity of some ameloblasts or from differentiation of new secretory cells after the infection ended.

Ameloblasts

The appearance of tooth enamel in children ingesting water with a high fluoride content for a limited period during early tooth development.

Sixteen Japanese children, inadvertently exposed to drinking water containing 7.8 ppm fluoride (F) from birth, were aged 11 to 42 months when a low-F water supply was substituted. The appearance of the enamel of their permanent teeth was assessed 11 years later (children aged 12-15 years) and recorded using Dean's and the FDI indices. All grades of Dean's classification were seen. The enamel lesions were more severe in the older than in the younger children, in the incisal compared with the gingival halves of the teeth, and in the early- compared with the late-forming teeth. Small, localized, chalky-white areas of enamel were found at or close to the incisal margins of the anterior teeth of six children. The characteristics and the distribution of the lesions in this study add to our knowledge of the mechanism by which fluoride produces dental fluorosis.

Adolescent

Remineralisation.

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Dental Caries