Children's Teeth May Suffer From Chemicals Found In Plastics And Fungicides

Parents should be careful about exposing their children to chemicals found in plastics and fungicides. Researchers have found that exposure to these chemicals may cause their teeth to be weakened.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and vinclozolin were noted to be endocrine disruptors, which impede the hormones of mammals. BPA is found in plastic bottles and food packaging, while vinclozolin is found in fungicide used for vineyards, golf courses and orchards. They interfere with hormones dealing with the growth of dental enamel, according to Science Daily.

Chemicals in food packaging, fungicides might damage children's teeth https://t.co/Qqc0N8cJnL pic.twitter.com/SZA7g1IDLS

— Medical News Today (@mnt) June 1, 2016

Chemicals Tested On Rats' Teeth

Researchers from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research did two experiments to see the relationship of endocrine disruptors to an irreversible condition called molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH), Medical News Today reported. When a child has MIH, the first permanent teeth have enamel defects. It was said that up 18 percent of children aged 6 to 9 have MIH.

For 30 days, rats were exposed to daily doses of either BPA or BPA and vinclozolin. After 30 days, the chemicals changed the expression of two genes which controlled the mineralization of enamel.

The second experiment involved culturing enamel-depositing cells of rats which contained sex hormones. Testosterone increased the expression of genes that make enamel. According to the authors, BPA and vinclozolin have been known to block the effect of male sex hormones, possibly leading to MIH.

Minimize Exposure To Chemicals

"Tooth enamel starts at the third trimester of pregnancy and ends at the age of five, so minimizing exposure to endocrine disruptors at this stage in life as a precautionary measure would be one way of reducing the risk of enamel weakening," said the study's lead author Dr. Katia Jedeon. Jedeon and her colleagues presented their findings at the European Congress of Endocrinology.

Daily Mail reported that BPA has already been banned from use in babies' bottles in the United States and the European Union. Vinclozolin was said to be "not acutely toxic."