Lead Exchange in Teeth and Bone: A Pilot Study Using Stable Lead Isotopes

Blood lead level and dental caries in school-age children.

“…This suggests that salivary lead level reflects the highly diffusible fraction of lead in plasma rather than the much larger fraction that is bound to red cells (Cleymaet et al 1991). Unlike dentin lead (Rabinowitz et al 1993), enamel lead is not turned over (Gulson and Gillings 1997), and the concentration is inversely related to etch depth (Cleymaet et al 1991;Purchase and Fergusson 1986). In contrast, for other tooth compartments the concentration of lead declines with increasing distance from the pulp cavity (Grobler et al 2000;Gulson 1996;Gulson and Gillings 1997;Purchase and Fergusson 1986), that is, where a tooth is in contact with the circulation.…”

“…Unlike dentin lead (Rabinowitz et al 1993), enamel lead is not turned over (Gulson and Gillings 1997), and the concentration is inversely related to etch depth (Cleymaet et al 1991;Purchase and Fergusson 1986). In contrast, for other tooth compartments the concentration of lead declines with increasing distance from the pulp cavity (Grobler et al 2000;Gulson 1996;Gulson and Gillings 1997;Purchase and Fergusson 1986), that is, where a tooth is in contact with the circulation. Finally, much of the intersurface and intertooth variability in enamel lead concentration can be accounted for by differences in the amount of contact with saliva and plaque, suggesting that lead in saliva is sorbed onto the surface of a tooth and incorporated into the hydroxyapatite, perhaps replacing calcium (Purchase and Fergusson 1986).…”

Lead Isotopes as a Supplementary Tool in the Routine Evaluation of Household Lead Hazards

“…The external measurement precision (i.e., sample reproducibility) of this ICP-MS method is < 0.2% (2σ) for the major ratios 208 Pb/ 206 Pb and 207 Pb/ 206 Pb in environmental samples. For comparison, the external precision of TIMS measurements on the same ratios in environmental samples is about 0.05% (2σ) (36). The external precision on the minor ratios (e.g., 206 Pb/ 204 Pb) in environmental samples is 0.25% (2σ) by the ICP-MS method and 0.1% (2σ) by the TIMS method (36).…”

Long-Term Effects of Exposure to Low-Levels of Radioactivity: a Retrospective Study of 239Pu and 90Sr from Nuclear Bomb Tests on the Swiss Population

“…For the United-Kingdom, the data represent activities found in premolar roots of milk teeth from children aged 10 (Hodgson et al, 2004). In this respect, and because the roots of teeth have a bone-like structure (Gulson and Gillings, 1997), these data correspond better to the activities that can be found in trabecular bones, rather than in the enamel of milk teeth. Figure 1 Figure 2 shows the results of 90 Sr analysis of milk for Switzerland (1954) and Norway (1953-1972, (Christensen et al, 1975).…”

“…Instead, the plutonium activities that we measured in the teeth reflect the plutonium concentration in the air during the year or so before tooth shedding, which takes place on average 10 years after birth according to our study (Froidevaux and Haldimann, 2008). Because our study used whole teeth, we measured plutonium that was present in the r o o t a n d c e m e n t u m s t r u c t ur e s o f t h e t e e t h , b o t h r e m o d e l l i n g a t t h e s a m e r a t e a s t h e trabecular bone socket (Gulson and Gillings, 1997). To confirm this hypothesis, we roughly separated the roots of milk teeth from the rest of the teeth for two samples (born 1954 and 1965, 30 teeth) before measurement and found that 239 Pu in the roots has activities up to 9 times higher than the rest of teeth (mainly enamel).…”