Evaluation of Correlation between socioeconomic classification and lead concentration in dental enamel of Schoolchildren

• Grant number: 09/02233-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2009
• End date: April 30, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Pediatric Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Raquel Fernanda Gerlach
• Grantee: Glauce Regina Costa de Almeida
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FORP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Exposure to lead in the environment is a matter of public health concern. Children from families in lower socioeconomic groups are more vulnerable to the effects of lead than those from more favored economic backgrounds. In Brazil, there is no national program for detection of contaminated children by this metal, which are more vulnerable to neurological effects from chronic exposure to low concentrations of lead. However, some studies showed high amounts of lead in the superficial enamel of deciduous enamel of Brazilian children. To our eyes, these data indicate the need to consider ways to implement measures in Brazil to check the contamination by lead in children. This project aims to: 1) to determine lead concentration in vivo in two successive microbiopsies in enamel of deciduous teeth of 800 children residing in the district of Campos Elíseos in Ribeirão Preto, SP, 2) to determine lead concentration in circumpulpar dentin of deciduous teeth, 3) to verify whether lead concentration in enamel of children whose parents did not allow the collection of blood in the previous study is different from the lead concentration in the enamel of children who participated in this study, 4) to verify the difference between the socioeconomic class of parents who authorized the collection of blood in the previous study and parents who have not authorized it, 5) to correlate the lead concentration in enamel and dentin of deciduous teeth with socioeconomic class.