Trace elements teeth

G.E. Coote, Fluorine as an indicator of changes in bones and teeth, Trace elements in New Zealand environmental, human and animal, Proc. New Zealand Trace Elements Group Conf., 1989, pp. 183-188. 

Advanced Seminar volume reflects the greatly expanded awareness of the importance of diet reconstruction for understanding past human health and behavior. It also reflects the growing number of applications of stable isotope and trace element analyses of bones and teeth. 

The bones and teeth of humans and other vertebrate animals, for example, consist mainly of a composite material made up of an organic substance, collagen, and a biomineral, calcium carbonate phosphate (see Textboxes 32 and 61). The latter, which makes up about two-thirds of the total dry weight of bone, is composed of calcium phosphate containing between 4-6% calcite (composed of calcium carbonate) as well as small amounts of sodium, magnesium, fluorine, and other trace elements. The formula Ca HPChXPChMCChXOH) approximately represents its composition its crystal structure is akin to that... 

The essential microelements are only required in trace amounts (see also p.2). This group includes iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), selenium (Se), and molybdenum (Mo). Fluorine (F) is not essential for life, but does promote healthy bones and teeth. It is still a matter of controversy whether vanadium, nickel, tin, boron, and silicon also belong to the essential trace elements. 

G.V. Iyengar, L. Tandon, Minor and trace elements in human bones and teeth, in International Atomic Energy Agency, NAHRES-39 report, Vienna, 1999. 

Elements are incorporated into teeth from the diet or by inhalation. The figure shows trace element profiles measured by laser ablation—plasma ionization-mass spectrometry of the dentine of teeth from a modem person and one who lived in Scandinavia about a.d. 1800. The contrast is striking. The old tooth contains significant amounts of tin and bismuth, which are nearly absent in the modern tooth. The old tooth contains more lead and antimony than the modem tooth. Tin and lead are constituents of pewter, which was used for cooking vessels and utensils. Bismuth and antimony also might come from pewter. 

The trace element profile of teeth at the opening of this chapter was obtained by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Figure 21-28 shows an example in which coffee beans were extracted with trace-metal-grade nitric acid and the aqueous extract was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma—mass spectrometry. Coffee brewed from either bean contains —15 ngPb/mL. However, the Cuban beans also contain Hg at a concentration similar to that of Pb. 

Trace elements in human teeth and bone can be used to reconstruct dietary patterns in prehistoric populations. Several methods have been used to generate chemical data for prehistoric human bone. Among these methods INAA of solid bone and ICP-MS and ICP-ES of solutions have been used most often (33-35). With INAA, portions of bone or teeth are cleaned, sealed in vials, and irradiated to provide data for 8-10 elements. Samples analyzed by ICP-MS are digested in acid prior to analysis. In both cases, sample preparation is cumbersome. 

Diffusion tends to equilibrate concentration differences between two reservoirs upon contact fluorine concentration profiles develop at the boundary of the two compartments as a function of time. Studies of the distribution of this trace element in archaeological samples such as bones, teeth or flints allow to gain some age information on the excavated objects of a burial site. The presented technique using beams of accelerated protons allows to measure fluorine diffusion profiles with an excellent space resolution. The surface exposure duration was deduced by the same method for Antarctic meteorites. 

P.M. Fischer, A.R.E. Lodding, J.G. Noren, Trace elements and dating studies of teeth by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), in Y. Maniatis, (Ed.), Archaeometry, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1989, pp. 109-119. 

Trace-element contents are shown for normal human teeth in Table 3.1.8, according to Retief et al. (1971). It is unfortunate that Mo, V, Li and Se were not considered in this study because the first three are believed to have caries-inhibiting effects, whereas the last is supposed to increase incidence of caries (Parko, 1975). Small amounts of Li would be tolerated as a... 

Some trace elements (fig g ) in human teeth (Retief et al., 1971) ... 

Wyckoff, R.W.G., 1971. Trace elements and organic constituents in fossil bones and teeth. Phosphate in fossils. Proceedings of the North American Paleontological Convention, Chicago, 1969, Part K, Allen Press, Lawrence, KS, pp. 1514—1524. 

Svalbe ID, Chaudhri MA, Traxel K, Ender C, Mandel A Microprobe profiling of fluorine and other trace elements to large depths in teeth. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res B 1984 3 648-650. Svalbe ID, Chaudhri M A, Traxel K, Ender C, Mandel A Surface profiling of trace elements across pre-carious lesions in teeth. Nucl Instmm Methods Phys Res B 1984 3 651-653. 

The trace elements can be classified into several categories (see table). In 1989, the National Research Council recognized that iron, iodine, zinc, selenium, copper, chromium, manganese, and molybdenum were dietary essentials for humans. Fluorine is also considered to be valuable for human health, because of its benefits to the teeth and skeleton. These nine trace elements are required by humans and other animals because they are essential components in metalloen-zymes and hormones or because they promote health in a specific tissue (such as fluorine in the teeth and skeleton). The trace elements required by the human body in milligram quantities include iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and fluorine. Trace elements required in microgram (jjug) quantities... 

Many nonessential trace elements are found in the body. Depending on the local environment, at least 43 elements are normally incorporated into developing teeth another 25 elements are seen less frequently. The rest, notably the heavy metals, have never been detected in teeth. Many trace elements, particularly the heavy metals, are considered when testing for metal poisoning. Many plants concentrate essential and nonessential elements from soil and water, including aluminum (several species of subtropical plants), selenium (many plants), strontium (mesquite beans), and lithium (wolfberries, used by Native Americans in the southwestern United States for jam). Ingestion of these plants can cause toxicity for the element involved. 

Sowden EM, Stitch SR (1956) Trace elements in human tissue. Biochem J 67 104-109 Staron R, Granstaff B, Gallagher W, Grandstaff DE (2001) REE signals in vertebrate fossils from Sewel, NJ Implications for location of the K-T boundary. Palaios 16 255-265 Staudigel H, Doyle P, Zindler A (1985) Sr and Nd isotope systematics in fish teeth. Earth Planet Sci Lett 76 45-56... 

Stermer EM, Risnes S, Fischer PM (1996) Trace element analysis of blackish staining on the crowrts of human archeological teeth. Eur J Oral Sci 104 253-261 Suchanek W, Yoshimura M (1998) Processing and properties of hydroxylapatite-based biomaterials for use as hard tissue replacement implants [Review]. J Biomed Mater Res 13 94-117 Suchanek W, Yashima M, Kakihana M, Yoshimtrra M (1997) Hydroxylapatite ceramics with selected sintering additives. Biomaterials 18 923-933... 

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