Assessment of exposures and potential risks to the US adult population from the leaching of elements from gold and ceramic dental restorations.

Using data from the 2001 to 2004 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on the number and placement of tooth restorations in adults, we quantified daily doses due to leaching of elements from gold (Au) alloy and ceramic restorative materials. The elements with the greatest leaching rates from these materials are often the elements of lowest proportional composition. As a result, exposure due to wear will predominate for those elements of relatively high proportional composition, while exposure due leaching may predominate for elements of relatively low proportional composition.

Assessment of exposures and potential risks to the US adult population from wear (attrition and abrasion) of gold and ceramic dental restorations.

Little has been published on the chemical exposures and risks of dental restorative materials other than from dental amalgam and composite resins. Here we provide the first exposure and risk assessment for gold (Au) alloy and ceramic restorative materials. Based on the 2001-2004 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we assessed the exposure of US adults to the components of Au alloy and ceramic dental restorations owing to dental material wear.

An investigation of the effect of gastrointestinal microbial activity on oral arsenic bioavailability.

In vitro gastrointestinal (GI) microbial activity in the colon compartment facilitates the arsenic release from soils into simulated GI fluids. Consequentially, it is possible that in vitro models that neglect to include microbial activity underestimate arsenic bioaccessibility when calculating oral exposure. However, the toxicological relevance of increased arsenic release due to microbial activity is contingent upon the subsequent absorption of arsenic solubilized in the GI lumen.