Fluoride contamination of groundwater and its threat to health of villagers and their domestic animals and agriculture crops in rural Rajasthan, India.

In India, Rajasthan is the largest state and has seven divisions, namely Ajmer, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur. Villagers of these regions, generally, used groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes. The basic sources of groundwater in rural areas are hand pumps, step wells and borewells. Water of most of these sources is contaminated with fluoride (F) with varying amounts. Water of > 60% these sources has F beyond the recommended country standard (1.0 or 1.5 ppm) especially in tribal rural areas of Rajasthan. The highest F range, 0.1-34.0 ppm, has been found in groundwater of these sources in the villages of Ajmer division and the lowest 0.1-6.8 ppm in the Kota. Drinking of fluoridated groundwater for a long time is not safe for health and causes serious fluorosis disease in humans and domestic animals. In Rajasthan, around 40 lakh people are affected with fluorosis which is the highest in the country. At the F range of 1.3-6.7 ppm, the maximum prevalence of dental and skeletal fluorosis in villagers and bovine animals was found 84.0% and 32.7% and 88.9% and 37.8%, respectively. Using fluoridated groundwater in irrigation is also harmful and reduces crops productivity. In this communication, division-wise F distribution in groundwater of rural Rajasthan, F-induced diverse adverse health consequences in villagers and their domesticated animals and agriculture crops and preventive measures for control of F intoxication are critically reviewed. Findings of this review are useful in implementation of health policy for the mitigation of F poisoning in rural Rajasthan.

A simplified approach to rehabilitate an ocular defect: Ocular prosthesis.

A 42-year-old male patient complaint with missing right eye was referred to the Department of Prosthodontics and Crown and Bridge. This patient was seeking artificial eye replacement. On careful clinical examination, a defect with a shrunken orbit and intact tissue bed was found in the patient. As the patient was economically very poor, modified stock ocular prosthesis was advised. To rehabilitate this ocular defect, "single" appointment technique with clinically available material was adopted, which is discussed in the present communication.

Status of industrial fluoride pollution and its diverse adverse health effects in man and domestic animals in India.

Hydrofluorosis in humans and domestic animals is a worldwide health problem and caused by a prolonged period of fluoride exposure through drinking of fluoride contaminated water. But in recent years, due to rapid industrialization in India, diverse serious health problems among industrial workers and residents and domestic animals living in the industrial areas due to fluoride pollution are on the rise. A number of coal-burning and industrial activities such as power-generating stations, welding operations and the manufacturing or production of steel, iron, aluminum, zinc, phosphorus, chemical fertilizers, bricks, glass, plastic, cement, and hydrofluoric acid are generally discharging fluoride in both gaseous and particulate/dust forms into surrounding environments which create a industrial fluoride pollution and are an important cause of occupational exposure to fluoride in several countries including India. An industrial emitted fluoride contaminates not only surrounding soil, air, and water but also vegetation, crops and many other biotic communities on which man and animals are generally dependants for food. Long- time of inhalation or ingestion of industrial fluoride also causes serious health problems in the forms of industrial and neighborhood fluorosis. In India, whatever research works conducted so far on the chronic industrial fluoride intoxication or poisoning (industrial and neighborhood fluorosis) in man and various species of domestic animals due to a prolonged period of industrial fluoride exposure or pollution (contamination) are critically reviewed in the present communication. Simultaneously, we are also focused the various bio-indicators and bio-markers for chronic industrial fluoride intoxication or pollution.

Neighbourhood fluorosis in people residing in the vicinity of superphosphate fertilizer plants near Udaipur city of Rajasthan (India).

Chronic industrial fluoride toxicosis in the forms of dental, skeletal and non-skeletal fluorosis was investigated in 162 villagers (94 males and 78 females) above 15 years of age living in the vicinity of superphosphate fertilizer plants located approximately 12 km south of Udaipur city of Rajasthan, India. Out of these villagers, 90 (55.5%) and 29 (18.0%) were found to be afflicted with mild to severe dental and skeletal fluorosis, respectively. Dental fluorosis characterized with light to deep-brownish bilaterally striated horizontal lines, pits or patches and fine dots or granules was noted on incisor teeth of villagers. Irregular wearing, excessive corrosions (abrasions), dark-brownish pigmentation of exposed cementum and dentine material, diastem as between teeth, pronounced loss of tooth supporting bone with recession and bulging of gingiva (gum) were also present in subjects of older age group (>55 years). Among 29 (18.0%) individuals, mild to moderate manifestations of skeletal fluorosis such as crippling, kyphosis, invalidism and genu-varum syndrome were found. In these fluorotic subjects pain/rigidity in major joints viz. neck, back, hip, knee and shoulder was also found. None of the fluorotic subjects showed evidence of genu-valgum syndrome. Other signs of chronic industrial fluoride intoxication in soft tissues (non-skeletal fluorosis) included colic, intermittent diarrhoea or constipation, bloating, polyuria and polydipsia. These findings indicate that surrounding environment of superphosphate fertilizer plants is contaminated with fluoride emission, which in turn is causing diverse ill health effects in humans which are discussed.

Osteo-dental fluorosis in relation to age and sex in tribal districts of Rajasthan, India.

An association between the incidence of osteo-dental fluorosis with age and sex was studied in 18621 residents of 73 villages of two tribal districts, Dungarpur and Udaipur of Rajasthan (India). The mean fluoride (F) concentration in drinking water sources of these villages varied from 1.0 to 6.1 mg/L. Out of 11205 individuals of Dungarpur and 7416 of Udaipur districts, 8090 (72.1%) and 2914 (39.2%) exhibited evidence of dental fluorosis respectively. The maximum incidence of dental fluorosis was encountered in the age group of 13-20 years and minimum in the age group of 5 to 12 years in both the districts. Regarding the incidence of skeletal fluorosis, 21 years of age revealed 27.6% in Dungarpur and 12.0% in Udaipur. Whereas 44 years showed maximum incidence of skeletal fluorosis, its minimum incidence was found in the age group of 21-28 years. Severity of fluorosis could be associated with the advancing of age and F concentration. Moreover, males showed relatively a higher incidence of dental and skeletal fluorosis compared to their counterparts. Chi square test revealed the association between the incidence of fluorosis with that of age and sex was non-significant except for dental fluorosis in Dungarpur district (p < 0.05). Those villages having almost same F level, showed a variable incidence of fluorosis because of frequency of F intake and duration of F exposure besides other determinants.