Journal of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences, Vol. 8, No.1, pp. 31-34, 2007

Application of PIGE to Determine Fluorine Concentration in Human Teeth : Contribution
to Fluorosis Study
H. Salah* and N. ArabCentre de Recherche Nucléire d’Alger (CRNA), COMENA 02 Bd. Frantz fanon, B.P. 399, Alger gare 16000,
Algérie
Received: July 18, 2006; In Final Form: May 22, 2007
Fluorosis, osteoselerosis, and systemic illness may result when tolerance levels of fluorine intake are exceeded. To
avoid these abnormalities, we shall be aware of the mechanisms of their development. For this, quantitative results
gathered from different parts of the world are necessary. In this paper, PIGE method is used to determine fluorine
concentration in human teeth, collected from different regions of the Algerian Sahara. Both enamel and dentine
regions were inspected. The external and internal mappings of the analyzed teeth have shown more variation in
the localized fluorine concentration in dentine than in enamel, and the lowest level of fluorine concentration wasobserved in the frontier crown-root zone. The obtained results reveal relatively high fluorine concentration lying
within the limit of fluorosis, according to the standardised grading dental fluorosis.

1. Introduction
In human nutrition fluorine plays a dual role; to prevent
tooth decay at a certain level of intake1,2 and to cause serious
damages in bony and dental tissues. When restrained to lowlevel, it can play a role of an inhibitor against certain enzyme
systems. But, an excessive ingestion can result in dental fluorosis and bone abnormalities. Skeletal changes and mottled
enamel may result when drinking water content of fluorine
exceeds few ppm. There is worldwide evidence that fluorine
intake above tolerance levels over certain period leads to cumulative effect resulting in systemic illness and osteosclerosis.
Several dental fluorosis has been associated with developmental disturbances of ossification. However, bone can be affected
at all ages. Clinical inspection constitutes a belated diagnostic
and when the harmful effect of fluorine is recognised, no treatment or medicine can be applied. Since fluorine is beneficial
at trace amounts, it can not be subtracted from human nutrition. An optimisation of fluorine intake is of a vital importance and this requires deep knowledge of the mechanisms ofboth of its beneficial and harmful actions on the organism anda sensitive method for its analysis. Conventional methods suchas potentiometry are suitable when samples to be analyzed are
fluids. These techniques necessitate sample preparations that
limit their efficacy and are, usually, destructive. The wellknown methods for trace elements analysis are the IBA (Ion
Beam Analysis) techniques for their advantage to be nondestructive and to provide concentrations with high sensitivity.
For elements such as Li, Be, B, and F, nuclear reaction analysis
with γ-ray emission is recommended. This technique provides
quantitative and efficient measurements with sensitivity better
than 0.1% for light elements. The γ-ray peaks are generally
well isolated and the energy is high enough that correction forabsorption is not necessary. No special preparation is needed
for the samples. This gives the possibility to analyse the sample without affecting its morphology, allowing fluorine mapping. Having high sensitivity, PIGE is suitable to analyse
volatile elements such as fluorine. It permits also the analysis
of a great number of samples under same conditions, which
result in an accurate comparison. The 19F(p, αγ)16O reaction
has been commonly used for fluorine determination. Many
*Corresponding author. E-mail: shouria@comena-dz.org. Fax :+213 21 434280

studies have been devoted to tooth analysis. Methods such as
PIXE, RBS, and PIGE have been successfully applied to study
the cause-effect relationship between fluorine intake and teeth
health2-5 and to determine the role of trace elements such as Al,
Fe, Se, Sr, Cu, Mn, and Cd in the mechanisms of inhibition orformation of dental caries in order to develop further progressin understanding dental physiology.4, 6
One of the main output of these investigations concerns theconcentration variations observed at the enamel surface and at
the enamel-dentine junction. Dentine showed less uniformity
in fluorine concentration than enamel. Large variations of fluorine concentrations have been observed between the enamel
and the dentine part of the teeth.7 Considering the effect of asingle fluoride dose on pre-eruptive enamel mineralization of
hamster tooth germs, Lenglet et al found the largest concentration of fluoride at the enamel-dentine junction.8 Depth profilingmeasurements of fluorine indicate that it is steeply peaked at
the enamel surface.7, 9 The rate enamel-fluorine/dentine-fluorine may give an indication about the way by which the fluorine enters the tooth since fluorine can be mobilised from bone
adjacent to a tooth and affect the formation of enamel.10
Fluorine can enter the tooth directly through water, food, orother dental products. We expect in this case that the fluorine
content of enamel is higher than the dentine fluorine content.
Inverse situation may be encountered if fluorine mostly reaches
the tooth from the blood. The differences found in the literature can be explained by the dietary habits of the populations
considered. The population residing in the south of Algeria
may serve as a good example to determine the itinerary of fluorine teeth content since in this geographical area fluorosis is
widespread.
2. Experimental
2.1. Sample and standard preparation. Fluorine concentration determination in human teeth from different regions of
the Sahara was carried out. About 20 human teeth wereselected with detailed dental histories of the donors. Healthy
teeth were obtained after extraction due to periodontal diseases. The considered teeth do not present any visible colourchange.
Prior to the analysis, the teeth were first cleaned using a soft
tooth brush and washed in distilled water. Then, treated with© 2007 The Japan Society of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences
Published on Web 06/30/2007

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Salah

J. Nucl. Radiochem. Sci., Vol. 8, No. 1, 2007

H2O2 (10%) and HCl (10%) solutions to remove organic materials and the exterior layer, respectively. Each tooth was rinsed
in deionised water, dried in a clean environment, and storedindividually in containers. The teeth were cross-sectioned
along the vertical plane to permit the analysis of both sides of
the teeth; enamel and dentine. To avoid current variations, due
to cumulative charges that may be resulted from bad electricalconductivity during the analysis, a thin (50 Å) layer of aluminium was evaporated on the teeth surfaces prior to the analysis.
Hydroxyapatite (HA) was synthesized from calcium andphosphorus precursors by a wet chemical method as reported
in Reference 11, and used as standards. A 0.3 M aqueous solution of (NH4)2HPO4 was added, drop by drop, to a 0.5 M aqueous solution of CaCl2 at 60 °C. The pH was adjusted to beyond
10 with concentrated NH4OH and aged for 24 hours under stirring. The resulted precipitated HA was filtered, washed with
distilled water, and microwave irradiated for 15 min. The
obtained powder was compressed into pellets of 1 mm thickness and then dried in an oven.
2.2. Experimental set up. The 19 F(p, αγ)16 O resonant
nuclear reaction at a proton energy of 1375 keV was employed
to investigate the distribution of the concentration of fluorine
along vertical sections of human teeth. The PIGE experiments
were carried out by employing the 3.75 MV Van de Graff
accelerator. Three sets of diaphragms were used to collimate
the beam to a diameter of about 1.5 mm, well defined under
different experimental conditions at the sample position. The
samples were placed at an angle of 45° with respect to the beam
direction and mounted onto the sample holder with the help of������

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Figure 1. Experimental set-up.

900
800

Counts700
600
500<----------------------------->
Integrated area

400
300

SE

200

DE

Fluorine
6.13 MeV

100
0
200

400

600

CST SSYFS,
SSTYST

where YFS and YST correspond to γ-ray yields measured bydetecting the prompt γ-ray emitted respectively from the sample and the standard, SS and SST are the stopping powers, calculated at the energy corresponding to a half of the yield obtainedat the incident energy. For accurate elemental determinations
the standard spectra were taken in the same geometry as the
sample and chosen to have quite similar properties to allow an
extrapolation in determining the relative stopping powers.
Using this method, correction for absorption is not necessary.
3. Results and Discussion

1000

0

a bronze disk frame. The stability of the beam current waschecked using a current integrator. The simplified experimental arrangement is given in Figure 1.
The emitted γ-rays were detected via 6 µm Mylar entrance
window, at 55° with respect to the beam axis by a high purity
germanium detector (GMX) of 1.90 keV resolution at 1.33 MeV( 60 Co). Energy calibration was performed using the wellknown resonances of the 19F(p, αγ)16O and 27Al(p, γ) 28Si reactions.
An accurate determination of fluorine depends on the correct identification of the interfering resonances and γ-ray, andon minimizing the interferences. The background of the measured γ-ray yield was mainly due to natural background radiation, competing reactions and noise in the electronics. The
γ-ray energies of interest are 6.13, 6.92, and 7.12 MeV. The 6.13
MeV γ-ray was used. The natural background occurs mainly
below 3 MeV, much below the considered energy range of measurements. As it is shown in Figure 2, in the high energy
region where single and double escape peaks are observed
besides the full energy peak corresponding to the 6.13 MeV,
the background yield is very low and no interference for thisrange of energy is known at proton energies lower than 3 MeV.
The competing intensity of the background is negligible andthe measurement can be made over the whole region, permitting to sum up the counting rate over a large region reducing
the standard deviation.
The beam intensity (≈ 50 nA) was chosen in such a way tolimit the effect of desorption under beam impact. All the measurements were made under the same conditions for a counting
charge of 1×105 µC. The cross section of the reaction being
high (300 mb), the measurements can be considered as accurate and precise. The calculated uncertainties are statistical,
mostly of the order of 8%.
Fluorine concentration is determined by comparison to thestandard, using a simple expression:

800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

ChannelFigure 2. Typical γ-ray spectrum obtained for a molar tooth
selected from R01 group.

The results presented here concern a set of twenty persons
originating from Algerian desert. None manifested clinicalsymptoms of fluorosis (dental lesions or brown discoloration).
An example of a typical γ-ray spectrum obtained from amolar enamel, using 19 F(p, αγ)16 O reaction at 1375 keV isshown in Figure 2. The 1375 keV resonance is chosen for its
high cross section, permitting to reduce the beam intensity on
the samples. Fluorine concentration in teeth samples were
determined by direct comparison of the ratio of their γ-ray
yields, measured from the areas covering all the peaks appearing at energies 6.13, 6.92, and 7.12 MeV, with those from thestandards. The fluorine content in the standard is chosen of
the order of that expected in the sample to assure identicalenvironments for the measurements.
Groups of 2–3 persons were considered for each region,
selected according to their nutrition habits. For a good accuracy of fluorine concentration determination, each analysis was
repeated several times. Average fluorine concentration values
obtained are summarised in Table 1.

Application of PIGE to Determine Fluorine Concentration

J. Nucl. Radiochem. Sci., Vol. 8, No. 1, 2007

TABLE 1: Fluorine concentration in the enamel, dentine
and crown-root junction of teeth samples collected fromthe south and north of Algeria
Average fluorine concentration (mg/g)
Region

South

North

Crown-Root
Dentinejunction

EnamelSurface

Interior

R01

4300

3700

2900

3200

R02

3700

3600

2900

3500

T01

4500

3500

3000

3300

B01

1300

1030

840

1000

B02

4000

3900

2900

3500

B03

3700

3090

2900

3100

B04

1500

–

1100

500

1030

–

–

–

740

–

–

–

750

–

–

–

Algiers
Oran

B, R, and T denote the southern regions and the given values
correspond to an average taken over a group of 2-3 persons.
TABLE 2: Contents of calcium, magnesium, sulphates,
and fluorides in drinking water in southern Algeria
Region Ca2+ (mg/L) Mg2+ (mg/L) SO42– (mg/L) F– (mg/L)
B01

152

31

674

0.23

B02

100

57

501

1,40

B03

120

52

410

1.85

R01

72

30

655

2.49

R02

140

263

710

1.73

T01

300

197

530

2.79

TABLE 3: Average f luorine concentration mapping
obtained for both surface and interior sides of a molar
tooth, taken from R01 group
Tooth region

Concentration(µg/g)

Surface
Interior
4490
3740*
Crown
4020
2600
Frontier
2900
2500
5890
3080*
Root
4300
4100
2900
2520
* From up (crown) to down (root) as shown in Figure 3.
A comparison is made with the fluorine levels found innorthern regions. The results reveal high fluorine concentrations in the southern regions, except for two groups (B01, B04)
where values ≤ 1500 µg/g are found for the outer layer and1000 µg/g in the internal regions of the teeth. Mostly, the fluorine concentration fluctuates between 3700 and 4500 µg/g
along the outer regions of the teeth, while the concentration
value in the internal regions is found to lie between 3090 and
3900 µg/g.
The main concentration values lie within the limits of fluo-

33

rosis, according to the standardised grading dental fluorosis.
But, these are still not too high as could be expected by clinicalfindings, even if neither lesions, nor discolorations wereobserved. It is clear that the set of 20 teeth analysed here is notsuitable for conclusion of a statistical quality. However, it may
give insights in studying the mechanisms of fluorosis. Excess
of fluorine may not be directly correlated to fluorosis since noclinical symptoms were observed on analyzed samples. The
role of other elements may be crucial in its development.
From the northern regions, considered in the present study,
less fluorine concentration is observed. The average value liesin the range reported for low fluorine levels in environmental
areas.12
The highest fluorine concentration recorded in the southern
regions is associated with the environment area. The hot climate, characteristic of these regions, leads to high level fluorine intake via drinking water and fluorine rich soil chemistry
results in foodstuffs containing high levels of dissolved fluorides. This agrees well with the fact that fluorine contents
found in enamel are higher than those obtained for dentine
regions. Clinical studies have shown that fluoride intake rapidly enters mineralized tissues (bone and developing teeth).
The factors controlling the incorporation into dental structures
have been reviewed by Weidemann.13 It is reported that fluoride
content in adult teeth reaches about 2700 µg/g in areas withfluoride concentration in the drinking water of 3 mg/L.13
Fluoride levels in fresh water vary according to geographicallocation and proximity to emission sources. Surface water
concentrations generally range from 0.01 to 0.3 mg/L. Fluoride
levels higher than 25 mg/L are found in areas where the naturalrock is rich in fluoride and close to industrial outfalls.14
In the south of Algeria where endemic fluorosis is recognized, subterranean sources are used to supply the population
with drinking water. To assess information on the relationshipbetween the appearance of fluorosis and the concentration offluorine in drinking water, many studies have been undertaken.
The obtained results show that in these regions, water is characterized by high levels of fluoride content, often associatedwith excessive hardness and mineralization.15
Content average in calcium, magnesium, sulphates, and fluorides found in drinking water in southern Algerian regions is ofabout 190 ± 31 mg/L for Ca2+, 120 ± 24 mg/L for Mg2+, 520 ±50 mg/L for SO 42– , and 1.6 ± 0.3 mg/L for F – .16 However,according to certain studies, values as high as 5.82 mg/L were
found for fluorides in the eastern zones of the south.17,18 In
Table 2, the reported values correspond to regions that are close
to those considered in the present work. Nevertheless, lower
values of the order of 0.5–0.9 mg/L F– are obtained for waters
provided by deep underground sources.
Additional fraction of fluoride may come from foodstuffs.
Tea and date, particularly rich in fluoride, constitute daily
nourishment in these regions. Fluorides content in dates canreach 14 to 23 mg/kg and in tea leaves 50 to 125 mg/kg. Dateis sufficient to provide daily fluoride intake of 0.5 mg.17,18
Summarized results of studies aimed to assess the levels of fluoride in some vegetables, cultivated locally, give: potatoes 14.3
ppm, tomatoes 9 ppm, watermelon 12 ppm, and tea leaves 31
ppm.
In spite of the high fluoride content, certain regions are notconcerned with dental fluorosis. This is attributed to the highmagnesium levels found in the corresponding regions, due tothe high adsorption rate of fluorites on the formed Mg(OH) 2
sites.19
In northern regions, drinking water is supplied by surface
waters. Fluoride content found varies from 0.15 to 0.3 mg/L.20
Table 3 gives a detailed mapping (as shown in Figure 3) of amolar tooth collected from R01 zone. Significant variations
either for enamel or dentine were found for the whole analyzed
teeth. However, it should be pointed out that the fluorine con-

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Salah

J. Nucl. Radiochem. Sci., Vol. 8, No. 1, 2007
References������
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Figure 3. Schematic diagram showing the anatomy of a cross-sectioned tooth along vertical plan. The dark areas correspond to theanalyzed regions (beam impacts).

centration is found to decrease from up (crown region) to down(root region) over the scanned tooth. This suggests, once again,that fluorine is provided mostly by water. In the consideredregions, dental products are not widely used.
The most remarkable finding of this study is the lowest levelof fluorine concentration observed in the frontier crown-rootzone.
4. Conclusion
The fluorine intake in teeth of adults residing in the south ofAlgeria was studied using PIGE method for teeth analysis.
High concentration levels were found compared to northern
regions. These findings may be explained by a consumption ofhigh amount of water as a consequence of hot climate.
Tea, well known to be rich in fluoride, constitutes the main
source of drinks in these regions and may be considered as animportant provision for fluorine intake.
These results are obtained for the selected specimens thatwere extracted from questioned persons about their age, oral
hygiene and consumption habits. At time being, no conclusion
can be drawn regarding these factors, more dental tissues haveto be analysed.
Acknowledgement. The author would like to thank Ms. A.
Belmadjber and Mr. A. Bouida, dentists practising at CRNA
and the University of Bechar, respectively, for providing theextracted teeth and for their valuable advices.

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