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Environmental contamination by heavy metals has been a matter of great concern in many countries for several decades. Human exposure to such elements may cause adverse health effects and young children are particularly at risk. Many matrixes have been used for determination of metal exposure levels. Hard tissues such as teeth and bones have some advantages compared to other matrix. Dental tissues are considered to be suitable for long-term metal exposure due to their stability, resistance to physical and chemical degradation and their good preservation over time. Several studies have analyzed the teeth of animals for assessment the relationship between increased fluoride exposure and dental fluorosis, however few studies have been conducted on human teeth. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess the reliability of human teeth matrix used as a biomarker for fluoride environmental pollution in Tunisia, and to evaluate the relationship with place of residence, age, dental caries and sex. Teeth samples (n=123) were collected from individuals living in Gafsa (fluoride-polluted area which inhabitants are to a great extent exposed to heavy metals) and Tunis (non polluted area). Samples were analyzed using a potentiometric method. The fluoride concentration was found to be significantly higher in teeth from Gafsa samples than those from Tunis. Their control levels were respectively 6793.1μg/g and 1068.8μg/g. The results indicate that there is a clear relation between fluoride concentration and residence of living. An increased level of dental fluorosis in fluoridated communities has been used to evaluate historical chronic exposure to fluoride in these communities, despite constant fluoride levels in the drinking-water. The fluoride concentration was also observed to be significantly increased in polluted area with age and in carious teeth whereas, no significant difference was observed for sex. Our study confirms well that human teeth used as a bioindicator for environmental pollution provide good chronological information on exposure, and highlighted the risks incurred by consumers living in such polluted area., (Copyright © 2019 Académie Nationale de Pharmacie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study aimed to assess the relation between the dental age of seven left mandibular teeth determined by the Demirjian's method and skeletal age determined by the Baccetti's method., Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated 600 patients aged between 8-16 years, who were selected from those presenting to Orthodontics Department of Hamadan dental school and private orthodontic offices. The patients had good-quality panoramic radiographs and lateral cephalograms taken within 2 months of each other. Skeletal age was determined according to the cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) on lateral cephalograms. The dental age of seven left mandibular teeth was determined using the Demirjian's method. Data were analysed by the Spearman's and Pearson's correlation coefficients via SPSS 16., Results: CVM had significant correlations with dental age (0.780) and chronological age (0.792). Accordingly, the strongest correlation was noted between CVM and the developmental stage of second molars in both males and females. In males, the highest correlation between dental age and chronological age was in CS5 stage (0.724) while, in females, the highest correlation between dental age and chronological age was in CS4 stage (0.651)., Conclusion: Considering the correlation between skeletal age and dental calcification, dental age, especially the developmental stage of mandibular second molars, based on panoramic radiographs, can be served as a primary diagnostic tool for determining the skeletal maturity stage of patients., (Copyright © 2019 CEO. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To examine the effect of a nutrition and hygiene education intervention on oral health behaviour and whether early onset of caries was related to child growth in rural Uganda., Methods: Follow-up study of a cluster-randomised controlled trial conducted between October 2013 and January 2015. Data were available from 399 mother/child pairs (203 in the intervention and 198 in the control group) of the original trial (78%) when the children were 36 months old. Oral health behaviour was evaluated using questionnaires. Photographs of the maxillary anterior teeth were examined for unmistakably carious lesions, and 115 water samples from the study area were analysed for fluoride concentration., Results: The frequency of cleaning of the child's teeth at 36 months was about twice as high in the intervention as in the control group (84.3% vs. 46.6%; P = 0.0001). Cavitated carious lesions occurred more frequently in the control than the intervention group (27.8% vs. 18.2%; P = 0.04). Extraction of 'false teeth' (ebiino), a painful and crude traditional operation, was profoundly reduced in the intervention group (8.9% vs. 24.7%; P = 0.001). There was no evidence of association between the occurrence of caries and child growth., Conclusions: The education intervention improved oral hygiene practices and reduced the development and progression of caries and extraction of ebiino. Early childhood caries was not clearly associated with child growth., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Phosphate is absorbed through the gut, stored in the bone and reabsorbed through the proximal renal tubule. More importantly, PTH and FGF23 have been identified as the main phosphaturic factors that control the expression of the phosphate co-transporters NaPi-IIa et IIc. By allowing the adjustment of the urinary phosphate reabsorption, these two phosphatonins play a major role in bone and tooth mineralization and growth. Recently, novel therapies have successfully targeted the FGF23 signaling pathway to treat the hypophosphatemia in patients affected with molecular defects of this pathway (mutations in the PHEX gene)., (© 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits réservés.)

Among the numerous specimens preciously preserved in the Anatomical and Embryological Museum of ULB, there lies also a dental collection assembled by Professor Hyacinthe Brabant. This collection, previously unlabelled, shows several dental anomalies and pathologies as well as tumours. The objective of our study was to conduct an inventory of this collection and to set up an electronic iconographic tool through the Iconography website of ULB. A descriptive study was carried out and it was based on the analysis of 125 models and 90 extracted human teeth. The inspection of the models showed some non-odontological tumours as well as multiple dental anomalies. The extracted teeth showed generalised, coronal or radicular anomalies. The conducted inventory allowed us to classify and label the specimens and therefore to showcase this dental collection which is unique owing to its rich content and didactic display. Finally, the iconographic site will be a useful tool to raise awareness about several dental pathologies and anomalies among students and young practionners., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The tooth types in the embryos of the hammerhead sharks Sphyrna tiburo, Sphyrna tudes and Eusphyra blochii are here described in labial and lingual views, and, in some cases, in additional views. The presence of cusplets was observed in the anterior teeth of S. tiburo and S. tudes, which is secondarily lost after early embryonic stages. Many aligned root foramina were detected in the sphyrnids, which, as the cusplets, are shared by many phylogenetic-related carcharhinids. Other anatomic features, related to the root and central cusp, are presented for the first time. Such characters represent the first step to compare the teeth of extant and fossil species., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.)