Lead in enamel and saliva, dental caries and the use of enamel biopsies for measuring past exposure to lead.

Enamel biopsies taken from schoolchildren in a community where exposure to lead was a health hazard were analyzed for lead and fluoride. The children with high enamel lead had significantly higher caries scores than the children with low enamel lead, in spite of the fact that the high lead group also was higher in enamel fluoride. There was no increase in enamel lead with age.