The toxic effect of fluorides upon the teeth and bones of animals has been demonstrated. In 1925 McCollum, Simmonds, Becker, and Bunting (1)) also Schulz and Lamb (2)) reported a disturbance in the quality and structure of the teet,h of albino rats, produced by amounts of fluorides only slightly above that occurring in natural foods. Since then the observed harmful effects of the feeding of roc...

INTRINSIC STAINING OF TEETH, apart from being caused by localised injury or infection, may be due to one of a number of factors. For example, the white patchy hypoplasia sometimes seen on the tips of the permanent incisors may have been due to a debilitating illness, such as broncho-pneumonia, in infancy. Pink staining of the teeth may occur in porphyria and in icterus gravis neonatorum the tee...

Menkes disease (MD) is caused by a defect in copper homeostasis and has a recognised mouse model, mottled (Atp7aMo). Copper uptake and retention assays performed on fibroblast cultures have been used successfully for pre- and postnatal diagnosis of Menkes disease. We report here the results of these assays applied to primary fibroblast cultures established from nine independent mottled alleles ...

David M. Vannier, PhD; Martha J. Somerman, DDS, PhD T he evidence-based movement has helped focus dentistry on the importance of a sound scientific foundation for clinical decision making. In fact, the American Dental Association (ADA) Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry describes “current, clinically relevant evidence” as 1 of the 3 pillars of effective decision making in practice. Science has...

Caries can be controlled by the early treatment of the carious lesion, by alteration of conditions upon the tooth surface and by dietary means during the period of tooth formation. The incidence of dental caries is influenced by a large number of factors. After the teeth have erupted, local conditions on the surface of the teeth have the greatest influence, but tooth structure is of considerabl...

Menkes' disease (MD) and occipital horn syndrome (OHS) are allelic X-linked disorders caused by mutations in the copper ion transporting ATPase, ATP7A. Genetic, phenotypic and biochemical data suggest that mottled mutants in the mouse, which range in severity and phenotype, are caused by mutations in Atp7a, the mouse homologue of ATP7A. As the only causal mutation in Atp7a has been reported in ...