Summary
Fluoride won't have a place in Lebanon's salt shakers, at least for now.
The health community in Lebanon and worldwide is divided on the issue of salt fluoridation.
In countries such as Lebanon, where water fluoridation would be impractical, salt fluoridation has been used instead.
Doumit said "local application cannot give a good result when the number of decayed, missing and filled teeth is already high". He explained that fluoride and salt together could provide greater protection.
One study that assessed the effects of salt fluoridation on middle-school-aged students in Mexico found significant decreases in the number of cavities, nine years after the addition of fluoride to salt.
Obeid recently assessed fluoride excretion levels in schoolchildren the results of which will be published in a forthcoming study. He found that fluoride levels were not excessively low enough to warrant salt fluoridation.
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