Quantitative Analysis of Trace Elements in Sound and Carious Enamel of Primary and Permanent Dentitions

Aims: Quantitative assessment of trace elements in enamel of sound and carious permanent and deciduous teeth, and evaluation of correlation between the presence of caries and trace elements

Study Design: Using powdered enamel from extracted primary and permanent human dentitions and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

Place and Duration of Study: Faculty of Dentistry and clinical Dentistry section of the Jordan University Hospital, between October 2014 and May 2015.

Methodology: Forty extracted human deciduous and permanent dentitions were collected from patients attended the dental surgery and pedodontic departments of the Jordan University Hospital. After proper cleaning and drying, four groups of ten teeth each from which enamel samples were collected in four containers labelled as, sound permanent, carious permanent, sound primary, and carious primary enamel. In each group the corresponding teeth were mechanically ground using a different bur; the grinding was within the enamel layer and without exposing dentine. The powdered enamel samples were acid-digested and transferred to liquid solutions in order to measure their content of heavy metal ions by means of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (GFAAS).

Results: Eight trace elements were detected, namely, Cu, Pb, Sr, Fe, Mn, Zn, Al, and Se and their concentrations were estimated in all four enamel samples. The concentrations of Sr, Cu, and Fe were significantly higher in sound than in carious enamel of primary and permanent teeth. The concentrations of Al, Mn, and Se were significantly higher in carious than in sound enamel of primary and permanent teeth. Zn and Pb demonstrated comparable concentrations in carious and normal enamel of primary and permanent teeth.

Conclusions: In the light of the obtained results, it could be concluded that Sr, Cu, and Fe function as cariostatic elements and there presence enhances caries resistance of primary and permanent teeth, whereas, the presence of Al, Mn, and Se is associated with caries.