What we know and don't know about dietary fluoride supplements--the research basis.

The administration of dietary fluoride supplements has been shown unequivocally to be an effective procedure for preventing dental caries, approaching and sometimes exceeding the benefits generally expected from the consumption of fluoridated water. The latter, however, is far more economical and feasible for benefiting large numbers of children. Prescribing supplements is still recommended for children drinking water with suboptimal amounts of natural fluoride. There is a need to clarify the role of prenatal fluoride administration. As there is uncertainty about the optimal time to initiate fluoride supplementation, the period during which such supplementation should be continued is also unclear. Some studies have addressed the issue, but their findings are equivocal. The decision on when to stop supplementation should be based on the professional judgment of a child's dentist. Combined therapies should be limited to children who are highly susceptible to caries attack. Fluoride supplementation will result in obvious dental fluorosis only if the procedure is misused and reliable dosage schedules have not been formulated; if misused, it is clearly contraindicated in communities with greater than 0.7 ppm fluoride in their water supplies. Used properly and when indicated, dietary fluoride supplementation is a patently safe and highly effective measure for the prevention of dental caries.