Journal article

Publication year: 1999

Pages: 265-275

Journal: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Volume number: 57

Issue number: 3

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006095316438

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 

The relationships between age (range: 3 to 14 yr), mandibular bone
fluoride level (marker of accumulated internal dose, range: 597 to 4680
mg F^- kg^-1> dry wt) and intensity of dental
fluorosis (reflecting fluoride exposure during enamel formation) were
studied in a sample of 53 fluorosed red deer from a fluoride-polluted
area in the Czech-German border region (Ore mountains and their southern
foreland). Assessment of the severity of dental fluorosis was performed
for the 3 permanent premolars and 3 molars of one hemimandible per
animal by using an ordinal measurement scale. For statistical analysis,
the maximum tooth score of fluorosis (MTS) and the dental lesion index
of fluorosis (DLI, sum of the six tooth scores per individual) were
used. In the sample, both MTS (r_s = 0.850) and DLI (r_s
= 0.813) were highly significantly (p <0.00001) correlated with bone
fluoride content. A weaker correlation existed between age and bone
fluoride content (r_s = 0.322, p <0.05). The results
demonstrate that in case of regional, long-term fluoride pollution,
dental fluorosis (measured as MTS or DLI) can be used as a sensitive
biomarker of fluoride exposure in deer and thus as an indicator of the
level of environmental contamination by fluorides. In many countries,
skulls and mandibles of wild deer are regularly and continuously
collected by hunters. Assessment of the prevalence and severity of
dental fluorosis in this material offers the opportunity for an
efficient large-scale biomonitoring of environmental pollution by
fluorides at very low cost.

Harvard Citation style: Kierdorf, U. and Kierdorf, H. (1999) Dental Fluorosis in Wild Deer: Its Use as a Biomarker of Increased Fluoride Exposure, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 57(3), pp. 265-275. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006095316438

APA Citation style: Kierdorf, U., & Kierdorf, H. (1999). Dental Fluorosis in Wild Deer: Its Use as a Biomarker of Increased Fluoride Exposure. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 57(3), 265-275. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006095316438