Abstract

Teeth are reported to be suitable indicators of heavy metals exposure from environment and nutritional status. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used to compare the trace element content of children’s primary teeth and permanent adult teeth. Primary teeth were collected from 64 children and permanent teeth collected from 112 adult with age range of 40-60 years. The data were assessed statistically using t-tests. The permanent teeth contained significantly greater concentrations of Na, Mg, Al, Fe, Ni, Cu, Sr, Cd, Ba, Pb  and U, and significantly less Mn, Co, As, Se, Mo and Bi than the children teeth. Moreover, comparison between heavy element concentrations in healthy and caries teeth pulps show that the mean concentrations of Na, Al, K, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Mo, Ag, Bi and U are lower in caries than healthy teeth pulps. On the other hand, the mean concentrations of Mg, Cd and Pb are higher in caries samples than healthy teeth pulps.

Key words: ICP-MS, teeth, heavy metals.