High levels of fluoride in lake aggravate dental health crisis in Baringo

By Steve Mkawale

A fresh water lake is supposed to be resourceful; it should provide fresh water, fish and also serve as a tourist attraction. Lake Baringo in Baringo County is one of the six famous water masses in Rift Valley Province and home to hippopotamus, crocodiles, variety of fish, and birds.

The lake has seven islands inhabited by locals; some furnished with tourist class hotels. But the benefits accruing from this lake is dampened by the fact that the water also contains high levels of fluoride, which has over the years has resulted in adverse effects on the dental health of villagers who consume it without knowing its hazards.

Fluoride is a soluble salt that occurs naturally in ground water and is also found in foods, soil, and some minerals.

Locally, it is consumed in water, a basic commodity with high local demand. Fluoride has no colour, taste or smell and can only be detected in a laboratory.

At Kambi Samaki in Baringo County, cases of dental and skeletal fluorosis are evident with many having browned teeth and weak bones.

During a recent medical camp organised by the British Army in collaboration with the Kenya Army and the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, the adverse effect of taking water containing fluoride was evident.

The health workers came face to face with the critical situation the locals have lived with for years without Government. The medical experts say excess fluoride consumption accelerates opportunistic diseases since it affects body cells and their mineral composition.

Flight Lieutenant Mathew Hopton, a dental officer with the Royal Air Force, says lack of primary health care for the people of Kambi Samaki has contributed to the problem.

Brown teeth

Dr Hopton says most of the patients he saw during the medical camp suffer from dental fluorosis. "I have seen a number of adults with fluorosis," he says.

The problem is serious here and I have ended up removing a number of teeth. Most children have been affected by fluoride," observes the dentist. The problem has complicated the lives of boys and girls who want to pursue careers as air hostesses.

"Our girls cannot be employed as hostesses in the aviation industry because of their brown teeth. They can’t smile," says William Chebii, an assistant chief in the area.

"Nothing pains me more than the fact that my two children, born in Kambi Samaki, have brown teeth. It is a tragedy to have girls who cannot smile," Chebii says.

Incidentally, fluoride has its own advantages, which include protecting teeth from decay and cavities. But when taken in excess, it causes undesirable and irreversible effects. The World health Organisation recommends only 1.5mg/l of fluoride in water but Kambi Samaki residents have been consuming water with 200mg/l, way above the optimal level.

With the urgent demand of clean drinking water for the locals, drilling underground water is the only solution to the problem.

But the Government has not been keen in helping the needy residents drill boreholes to access clean drinking water.

"This problem has been with us for ages. The Government has not seen the need to help the villagers out of this problem," says councillor Daniel Kampala of Kambi Samaki ward.

Kampala says beside a programme by the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, a water quality programme that has been in the forefront of defluoridation, the removal of excess fluoride in drinking water, the Government has not done much to help.

"Recently, the Constituency Development Fund allocated Sh800, 000 for drilling boreholes in Kambi Samaki, but that is not enough. We need more funds for exploration and sinking of the boreholes," says the councillor.

Hopton, who examined more than 100 patients with dental problems at the medical camp, observes that excess fluoride leads to poisoning.

"A number of patients I have seen in the past week have brown and chipping teeth (dental fluorosis)," he says. Fluorosis develops gradually when humans or animals consume too much fluoride over a long period.

Dental fluorosis mainly affects children aged blow 18, since their teeth are still developing. Once a person has been affected by fluorosis, the process is said to be irreversible meaning that there is no cure. The good news is that the condition can be prevented.

Processed foods

Children are also falling victims to fluorosis yet they only have milk teeth that develop between one and four years of age.

Doctors at the medical camp attribute this to processed foods and formula manufactured from fluoridated water.

Though some may say dental surgery is the solution, dental professionals say the problem would still remain since the teeth would still be weak.

Hopton, the dental officer from the British Army, says the cases could only be rectified temporarily through dental surgery, which is cosmetic. However, he warns that the process is expensive.

"Most of the people here are poor and cannot afford to treat their water. What I have done is remove a lot of teeth," Hopton said.

Daniel Lokoipir, a resident of Kambi Samaki, says he has been forced to live with the condition because there is no dentist at the local health centre.

Skeletal fluorosis

"Everyone has this problem here and we cannot do anything about it. There is no dentist at the health centre," he says.

But Lokoipir was lucky when the British Army set the medical camp. "It is the first time I’m seeing a dentist. He has removed two teeth, which were troubling me," he says.

Skeletal fluorosis affects people with a severe case of fluorosis. Their bones are weak and may fracture easily. It is therefore common to see young people at Kambi Samaki already stooping like old folks at their tender age.

Symptoms of skeletal fluorosis include stiffness and pain in neck and back; restricted movement and pain in joins, especially knees, hip and shoulders, total rigid back, immobility of knees and other joins, severe pain and deformed bones, also seen on newborn babies and children.

Cases of skeletal fluorosis are not new. Those afflicted have complained of restricted movement due to painful joints. Some have permanent immobility.