Dental Health Imaging, Jobs, Education & Resources

DETROIT, Mich., USA: As reported by doctors from the U.S., a female patient's extreme consumption of highly concentrated tea over almost two decades had caused serious bone damage. Upon admission to a clinic, the woman complained about severe bone pain and had lost all her teeth already.
According to the case study that was published online in the March 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the woman drank a pitcher of tea made from 100 to 150 tea bags daily for the past 17 years. The doctors estimated that the 47-year-old thus had a fluoride intake of about 20 mg per day.

The patient reported that she had been experiencing pain in her lower back, arms, legs and hips for five years. Owing to the brittleness of her bones, all her teeth had been extracted.

A blood analysis and radiographs of her limbs and spine suggested skeletal fluorosis, an endemic disease in people living in areas with high concentrations of fluoride in their drinking water. However, the disease is rarely found in other parts of the world. The doctors thus assumed that the brewed tea, which is one of the beverages with the highest fluoride content available in the U.S., had caused her bone condition.

According to the doctors, the symptoms improved significantly once the patient had discontinued her excessive tea consumption.