The influence of fluoride in drinking water on the incidence of fluorosis and intelligence of elementary school students in Palu City

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This research aims to know the influence of fluoride in drinking water towards Fluorosis and the Intelligence Level of Elementary School Students in Palu City. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was performed through descriptive analysis on 100 students aged 6-12 years old selected by stratified random sampling from two different areas with different levels of fluoride in drinking water in Palu City. The samples were collected from two different elementary schools which were SDN 2 Talise and SDN Inpres 1 Birobuli. The examination was performed by a dentist using Dean's Fluorosis Index and philology, who measured students' IQ using Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. RESULTS: High level of F in drinking water affects the fluorosis status of students (p=0.001), in which among 40 students (40%) who experienced fluorosis, 38 (38%) of them are from the area whose F level is high. The high level of F also affected the children's IQ, obtaining a p-value of 0.001, showing that there were no students with low IQ found in the area with low F level. For the status of Fluorosis and IQ, p=0.001 was obtained. Among the 60 students who did not experience fluorosis, 96.6% of them had a high IQ level. CONCLUSION: The recent research found that fluorosis was found more often in the area of which F level was high, where the IQ level of the students was found to be lower compared to the students who loved in the area with low F level.

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