FACTS ON SODIUM FLUORIDE TREATMENT FOR OSTEOPOROSIS
Sodium fluoride treatment with / or without calcium and vitamin D3 is being practised for treating Osteoporosis. The facts are as follows:
30 mg to 80 mg sodium fluoride is administrated to a patient of Osteoporosis daily and treatment may continue 10-15 years or even more.
There are two kinds of responders to sodium fluoride treatment. In one type of responders, the patient is relieved of the excruciating pain and accepts the treatment.
Intermittent gastro-intestinal problems occur and the patient puts up with such complaints.
Radiographs would reveal enhanced bone density and bone mass as a result of sodium fluoride treatment and is considered as bone growth and atrophied bone is rectified. But this is not a normal healthy bone. It is due to a process of pathological bone growth as fluoride induces secondary Skeletal Fluorosis.
In the second type of responders the patient develops excruciating pain, and would abandon the treatment.
The scientific reasons for
disappearance of the pain in the first group of responders and
development of excruciating pain in the second group of responders is still not understood.
