Abstract

Lead is one of the most hazardous metals, which causes many deleterious effects, including mental retardation, especially in children. Primary teeth are used for the determination of lead body burden, especially in children. Dust particulates and floated soil that come by dusty weather are strongly involved in the body burden caused by lead. This paper aims to study the lead contents present in the deciduous teeth of children in three cities with different climates located in Sistan and Baluchistan province, Iran. Teeth samples were collected from dental clinics with the help of the Dentistry Faculty of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences from three cities: Zahedan, Chahbahar and Zabol. Lead content of the samples was quantified using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A questionnaire was used to gather personal data and respective information, such as age, sex, place where they live (urban and rural), city of residence, mouth health status, parents educational levels, parents job, dairy daily intake and types of toys. The results of this study showed that there is a significant relationship among parents' education level, the type of toys material and the teeth lead level (TLLs). Mean concentration of lead in the three cities was 32.65 mu g/g +/- 3.91 with no meaningful differences between them. The mean average age of children was 8.28 +/- 0.18 (36.7 boy and 63.3 girl). Our results showed that TLLs were significantly lower in the children with well-educated parents with a p-value of 0.013.