Lead in deciduous teeth from larger cities of some countries

Altogether 4805 whole primary teeth from Norway, Portugal, Thailand, Hungary, Poland and Chile have been analyzed for lead. The teeth represented named urban, rural and industrialized areas, including the capitals of those countries. It was found that with the exception of teeth from Bangkok, which had a significantly higher tooth lead level than other Thai and foreign teeth, all capitals were either significantly lower or not significantly different from the level of the respective whole country, including the capital. The material represented times and countries where unleaded gasoline was not yet in common use. It is concluded that leaded gasoline may not be a primary source of lead burden in children in a country as a whole.

Keywords:

• Lead
• deciduous teeth
• cities
• countries