2007/05/01 by Susan O. Griffin, Eva Regnier, Paul M. Griffin +1 · 3 citations
Dentistry · Environmental Science · Medicine · Chemistry · #Dental Health and Care Utilization #Fluoride Effects and Removal #Dental Research and COVID-19 #Fluoride #Dentistry #Medicine #Chemistry #Inorganic chemistry
paper · doi:10.1177/154405910708600504
openalex publication_date 2007/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
To date, no systematic reviews have found fluoride to be effective in preventing dental caries in adults. The objective of this meta-analysis was to examine the effectiveness of self- and professionally applied fluoride and water fluoridation among adults. We used a random-effects model to estimate the effect size of fluoride (absolute difference in annual caries increment or relative risk ratio) for all adults aged 20+ years and for adults aged 40+ years. Twenty studies were included in the final body of evidence. Among studies published after/during 1980, any fluoride (self- and professionally applied or water fluoridation) annually averted 0.29 (95%CI: 0.16-0.42) carious coronal and 0.22 (95%CI: 0.08-0.37) carious root surfaces. The prevented fraction for water fluoridation was 27% (95%CI: 19%-34%). These findings suggest that fluoride prevents caries among adults of all ages.