The effect of NaF in vitro on the mechanical and material properties of trabecular and cortical bone

High doses of sodium fluoride in bones lead to severe softening, by weakening interfacial properties between the inorg. minerals and the org. components, while leaving mineralization unchanged. This leads to redn. of microdamage and assocd. stress-whitening pointing to a change in failure mode. Accordingly, elastic modulus, failure stress, and indentation-distance increase are decreased, whereas failure strain is increased. [on SciFinder (R)]