Resumo

SOUSA, Kathleen Rebelo de; ALMEIDA, Maria Eliana Cruz de; SILVA, Cristiane Santos da  e  SOUSA, Maria da Luz Rosário de. Relationship between quality of water supply and extrinsic dental color. RPG, Rev. pós-grad. [online]. 2011, vol.18, n.1, pp. 39-44. ISSN 0104-5695.

Changes in tooth color are a common esthetic problem in patients exposed to certain extrinsic or intrinsic factors. Among the extrinsic factors, the heavy metals deserve highlighting. Therefore, this study aimed to verify if there is association between the water consumed by residents from Caapiranga, Amazonas (Brazil) and changes in tooth color. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. The calculated sample size (n = 350) was based on the prevalence of the phenomenon would be the maximum possible (50%) in a city not to exceed 100,000 people. Residents were examined by a dental surgeon from the Family Health Program staff in regular home visits. The clinical examination was carried out with a wood spatula under natural light. The water samples were collected in resistant plastic bottles. There were three collections in each well, with minimum volume of water (500 mL) to perform the analysis and then assess all metals of the study. There were 30 collections, since 10 wells were analyzed. The analyzed metals were: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, lead, copper, cobalt, chromium, iron, magnesium, mercury, nickel, selenium, and zinc. Descriptive statistics were used and the measure of Odds Ratio (OR) for association checking. It was found that the only metal in excess was iron (0.4 to 4.3 mg/L) in water samples and 16.9% of staining in the teeth of residents of this sample (n = 332). There was an association between the staining and the presence of iron in the supply water (p = 0.015), presenting OR = 2.16(1.10 - 4.23). The quality of the water supply in some points of Caapiranga was in disagreement with the tolerable level for the presence of iron in water (0.33 mg Fe/L). As for the other metal the levels were within the limits of tolerance. It is suggested that teeth stain needs further studies because they can be an important indicator of the presence of iron and/or other metals in the water.

Palavras-chave : Oral health; Dental enamel; Water supply.