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Thank you for you questions about enamel and fluoride.
Teeth are coated with enamel, a tissue that has the highest mineral content of all mineralized tissues of the body. It is 96% (by weight) crystalline calcium phosphate, similar to hydroxyapatite. Fluoride appears in different forms throughout the enamel and can be incorporated into or onto the crystal as part of the apatite crystalline lattice structure, strongly adsorbed to the crystal surface, or in some other phase as a secondary crystal growth of, for example, calcium fluoride on the enamel apatite crystal surface. For more detail, see Fejerskov O, Ekstrand J, Burt BA, eds. Fluoride in dentistry. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1996.
In addition, the American dental Association web site is an excellent source for information relating to fluoride. Here's the URL:
http://www.ada.org/consumer/fluoride/facts/ff-menu.html
In addition, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry http://www.aapd.org:80/broch1.html
Furthermore, the National Institute of Dental Research http://www.nidr.nih.gov/flouride.htm Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/oh/flintro.htm and California Dental Association http://www.cda.org/public/pubhsrvc.html web sites should be helpful.
Jay D. Shulman, DMD, MSPH
Department of Public Health Sciences
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