Fluoride “Bombs”

Fluoride can lead to cracks in tooth enamel, which can lead to decay beneath the enamel that often cannot be detected by a dentist using a probe. The subsequent result can be what appears to be a very minute amount of decay in the groove of a tooth which hides a ‘bombed-out tooth’ beneath it which is known in dental circles as a ‘fluoride bomb’.

This  Published article has high-resolution, before-and-after, photographs relating to fluoride bombs. In the article (Bill) Osmunson (DDS, MPH) wrote:

A fluoridated “bombed out” tooth clinically can have unique characteristics of good smooth surface enamel yet have extensive dentin decay in the pits and fissures. In contrast, the non-fluoridated bombed out tooth may chip next to the pits and fissures before as much dentin damage occurs and provide earlier detection of the decay by patient or clinician, explaining in part the lack of effectiveness with fluoridation…”

Below are links to two Australian dental websites which admit to fluoride bombs caused by fluoride:

1)  From Dental Sense Fluoride bombs refer to large areas of tooth decay in the absence of cavities. … if fluoridated enamel is stressed repeatedly during parafunctional states, microcracks can appear, propagate and in turn “open the door” for cariogenic bacteria to access the organic component of teeth resulting in degradation of dentine and undermining of enamel, similar to traditional models. The difference being that teeth exposed to fluoride during formative years will not cavitate as early and the same stresses that caused the microcracks continue to fuel the spread of the carious lesion. Conceivably, therefore, fluoridation may help prevent dental caries caused by “acid attack”, but equally may now mask breakdown associated with “crack attack”!

2) From. Shore Dental there have been some unintended consequences of the introduction of fluoride into the water. The one of relevance to this document refers to the way in which decay operates within a tooth. Fluoride causes a tremendous increase in the hardness of the enamel (a decrease in the solubility of the enamel in response to an acid attack caused by plaque).  Decay does not become so evident to the dentist as it did previously.  Instead of the decay forming an open cavity which was easily visualised and easily felt by a sharp metal probe.  Decay now tends to start inside a tooth.  This is because the bacteria and saliva can get through at the very fine crack on the surface (we call this the fissure) and commence decaying at the softer portion of the tooth inside called the dentine.  As a result of this the decay can go undetected for many, many years and ends up in what dentists refer to now as a ‘fluoride bomb’.  The inside of the tooth is completely decayed and the outside looks fairly normal – sometimes there is a slight discolouration evident through the enamel, but often the decay can not even be felt with a sharp metal probe – this is scary stuff to dentists because for decades we have relied on diagnosis of decay by feeling the softening of the enamel with a metal probe. We can no longer do this.