2d), and as a band with low radiopacity adjacent to bands with an even lower radiopacity (thin arrow in Fig. 3d). Some teeth had somewhat long extensions along

the main axis of the buccal surface without pigmented bands, where the superficial enamel layer uninterruptedly displayed higher positive birefringence with a vivid blue colour (Fig. 2c) and lower radiopacity (Fig. 3c) compared with normal enamel. Cavities with the bottom in dentine (enamel–dentine see more junction) were seen in some teeth, outlined by enamel with higher positive birefringence compared with normal enamel (Fig. 2e and f). As illustrated in Fig. 3, control and Pb group animals did not display signs of fluorosis in their teeth (score 1). All the animals from the F or F + Pb groups, on the other hand, presented enamel with various degrees of defects (Fig. 4). Whilst the F group animals

had the typical rodent fluorotic enamel appearance (scores 2–4), the animals exposed click here to F + Pb exhibited significantly higher degree of fluorosis as evidenced by the Enamel Defect Index proposed in this study (P < 0.001). The median of the F group animals was 2.0 (2.0; 3.0) (minimum; maximum) in upper incisors, and the F + Pb group animals furnished a median score of 3.25 (2.5; 4.5)(P < 0.0001). For the lower incisors, higher fluorosis scores were also obtained in the F + Pb group animals: the F-exposed animals presented a median of 2.0 (2.0;4.0), whereas the F + Pb group animals had a median of 4.0 (2.5; 5.0) (P < 0.0001, Fig. 4). This study shows for the first time that the fluoride effects on enamel formation can be altered by the co-exposure of rats to lead, resulting

in worse enamel defects in both lower and upper incisors. Data on F and Pb tissue levels have been reported previously,13 and it was demonstrated that: (i) animals from F and F + Pb GPX6 groups exhibited increased concentrations of fluoride in calcified tissues compared with the control and Pb groups, in all analysed tissues (P < 0.0001) ( Fig. 3 of Sawan et al., 2010) 13; (ii) there were no differences between the F and F + Pb groups (P > 0.1) in terms of the concentrations of fluoride in whole bone, dentine, or enamel; and (iii) Pb levels in blood and calcified tissues were higher in the F + Pb group (blood Pb level of 76.7 ± 11 μg/dL) compared with the other groups (blood Pb level of 22.6 ± 8.5 μg/dL in the Pb group and below 5 μg/dL in the control and F groups) (P < 0.001) (Figs. 1 and 2 of Sawan et al., 2010). 13 The modified Fluorosis/Enamel Defects Index for rodent teeth employed here allowed for discrimination of a wider range of defects than that previously observed in rat fluorosis.15 White lines and white islets were defined as hypomineralization, as evidenced by the altered birefringence detected by means of polarizing microscopy, in agreement with a recent report,15 and by the lower X-ray absorbance seen on microradiographs.