Trace-element analysis of human teeth and bone by proton-induced X-ray emission

The objective of our study is to correlate Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Br, Sr, and Mo concentrations in human teeth crown, root, and bone. The samples, teeth from a lower jaw bone and the lower jaw bone itself, were obtained from a 97-yr-old female cadaver. Two hundred milligrams of crown and root of the teeth, and lower jaw bones were fixed to a Kapton film and irradiated with a 3.8-MeV external proton beam from an 8-MV FN Tandem Van de Graaff Accelerator. TheF-test was used to analyze the difference between crown, root, and bone. It resulted in the following: For Fe, Zn, and Pb, the comparison showed significant differences among the three sample populations of tooth crown, root, and bone; for Cu, Br, Sr, and Mo, the comparison showed no significant differences among all three sample populations. Several elements in the samples were highly interrelated.