The influence of the element status on mineralization of dental hard tissues in young children

Child's organism is a kind of marker of increased sensitivity to environmental conditions. Lack of vital (essential) elements may lead to disease occurrence, caused by deficiency, excess or imbalance of micro- and macro elements in the organism. To assess the level of trace elements content in the human body, the hair is a good informative material as it concentrates trace elements and most fully reflects the level of both toxic and essential elements content. In order to conduct a comparative analysis of the elemental composition of hair in children and assess the relationship between the elemental composition of hair and the state of oral health status, we have examined 28 patients who underwent simultaneous determination of 28 chemical elements in the hair. According to the obtained data, in elemental composition of hair in children of group I, living in the regions with moderate environmental contamination, there was a minimal decrease of essential elements (except Ca), a slight increase of toxic chemical elements - Pb and Cd and decompensated form of dental caries have been observed. Investigation of the second group of children living in environmentally unfavorable regions showed that children with decompensated form of caries prevalence are characterized by the significant reduction of hair essential chemical elements in average of 28- to 56% and by a high content of toxic elements such as Pb, Hg, and Zr. The fact indicates enhanced excretion of essential elements under the influence of heavy metals, which in its turn affects the whole body and dental health.