Zinc and magnesium content in human teeth.

The levels of trace metals to be found in human teeth have not yet been clearly established. Nor has there been any study of the relationship of metals to individual differences, age differences, sex, geographical factors or to differences between teeth in the same individual that are in various stages of odontogenesis. Information concerning the significance of metabolic and epidemiological factors is also negligible. The reason for this may be due to the many difficulties arising during the pretreatment of specimens and counter measures taken to prevent interference and inhibition from the other elements present in teeth, before accurate quantitative analysis can be performed. For the past several years, however, trace elements in teeth have begun to be considered as a potential index revealing the total amount of such elements injested by a subject since the initiation of odontogenesis until the time when the tooth is extracted as a specimen. In addition, recently checks of the degree of environmental pollution that affect the human body have been made by analyzing the metal content in teeth1-3). With this in mind, dental specimens were separated into dentine and enamel components. Quantitative analyses4) were performed zinc and magnesium that are generally present in large quantities in these to determine the layers. Based on the results of volumetric analysis, concentration distributions and correlations among the metals were calculated.