title: Analysis of 35 inorganic elements in teeth in relation to caries formation.
abstract: As caries is a most common affliction of teeth, which are predominantly composed of inorganic elements, it was considered worthwhile to determine their elemental composition and to find if it bears any relation to caries formation. For this purpose, 35 inorganic elements were determined in 15 non-carious and an equal number of carious whole teeth after their dissolution in nitric acid. The results showed that out of 35 elements, strontium was the only element found to be present in significantly lower amount in carious teeth, thus strongly suggesting that its deficiency may help form caries. The decrease in Ca, Mg, Ti, P, Li, Be, V, Ni, Zn, Nb, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba, La , W, Pb, and Bi and slight increase in K, Cr, Cu, and As was not statistically significant. However, statistically significantly greater amount of boron, manganese, molybdenum, and fluorine in the carious teeth indicates towards their possible role in predisposing or causing dental caries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, S. G. T. Dental College, Budhera, Gurgaon, India.
authors.forename: Manminder
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riyat
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D003731:Dental Caries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014070:Tooth / Q000737:chemistry*; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014131:Trace Elements