Infant milk formula and enamel fluorosis

The American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Scientific Affairs (CSA) just released a report in the Journal of the American Dental Association on potential associations between reconstituted infant formula and enamel fluorosis.

The CSA convened a panel of experts to address the following question: “Is consumption of infant formula reconstituted with water that contains various concentrations of fluoride by infants from birth to age 12 months associated with an increased risk of developing enamel fluorosis in the permanent dentition?”

Based on gathered data, experts have made the following recommendations:

• Dentists should advocate exclusive breastfeeding until the baby is 6 months old and encourage the mother to continue breastfeeding until the baby is at least 12 months of age, unless specifically contraindicated.
• Dentists should suggest the continued use of powered or liquid concentrate infant formulas reconstituted with optimally fluoridated drinking water while being cognizant of the potential risks of enamel fluorosis development.
• When the potential risk of enamel fluorosis development is a concern, dentists should suggest ready-to-feed formulas or powdered or liquid concentrate formulas reconstituted with water that either is fluoride free or has low concentrations of fluoride.

These recent recommendations and this report replace the document entitled Interim Guidance on Fluoride Intake for Infants and Young Children published by the ADA in 2006. Evidence-based cli­ni­cal recom­men­da­tions regar­ding fluo­ride intake from recons­ti­tu­ted infant for­mula and enamel fluo­ro­sis JADA 2011

I would like to personally contribute to this subject. I have 3 children. My wife breastfed each and every one of these 3 children with love and devotion. However she was unable to stick to exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months for any of them. You see, despite a sufficient breast milk production, our babies were voracious. They were hungry. We then had to introduce infant formulas, and… pablum, long before they were 6 months old. Today, they are grown-ups, very tall grown-ups. My wife and I are proud of them.