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Fluoride has been used experimentally to treat osteoporosis, although the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved it for this purpose. The fact is that fluoride does increase bone mineral density.

But this “benefit” is misleading because as it increases density, it simultaneously makes them more brittle and prone to fracture. Fluoride actually interferes with bone remodeling, or the process in which the mineral portion of your bone is broken down and rebuilt.

By interfering, your bones become excessively mineralized and enlarged, “a disruption of the precise architecture needed to maintain resistance to fracture,” as the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) put it.

Fluoride Blamed for Increasing Bone Fractures in India

Fluoride is described as “one of the oldest drugs available for managing osteoporosis,” but the gains in bone mass are being offset by increases in fracture rates.1 Vivek Logani, chief of joint replacement surgery at Gurgaon’s Paras Hospital in India, said:2

“It is widely recognized that fluoride therapy for osteoporosis adds mass to bones but produces inferior bones. In short, the bio-mechanical competence of the skeleton may be compromised because the tensile (elasticity) strength of bone is sacrificed

Numerous studies show that fluoride may cause not only increased skeletal fragility (more non-vertebral fractures such as hips) but also osteomalacia (deficiency of bone mineralization).”

For instance, research has shown that patients treated with fluoride at doses of greater than 20 milligrams/day had an increase in fracture rates, including spontaneous hip fracture.3 Even at levels found in drinking water (4 mg/L), fluoride has been found to reduce the density of cortical bone and increase bone fracture rates among populations with fluoridated drinking water.

The data actually spurred the US National Research Council to call on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce fluoride levels in drinking water, although they’ve yet to do so.4 Animal studies have also shown that as fluoride exposure increases, bone strength decreases.5 So don’t be fooled by its ability to increase bone mass