[Age and content of certain mineral components in permanent teeth]

The chemical composition of the teeth is determined during its development, however, in the postdevelopmental period changes of inorganic components are possible, which have an important effect on the morphology, structure and chemical composition of teeth. Using the method of X-ray fluorescence the levels of Ca, P, Cl, S, K and Zn were determined in hard tissues of 218 permanent non-carietic teeth from all dental groups. The correlation between these various elements in the teeth and the age of the subjects, whose teeth were taken for the investigations, was expressed with the correlation coefficient r of Pearson. The significance of the correlation was analysed using Students t test. In case of significant correlation equations of regression were determined for predicting the expected value of the level of a given element in teeth for a given age. No significant differences were noted in the levels of Ca and P in relation to age. The levels of S, K and Zn rose with age, while the chloride content was decreasing.