Your teeth: The latest victim of toxic BPA exposure

Thursday, June 27, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: teeth, BPA, tooth enamel

(NaturalNews) There appears to be yet another toxic side effect associated with bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure: Tooth decay. A new study out of France recently published in the American Journal of Pathology (AJP) highlights how rats exposed to moderate doses of BPA throughout their formative years developed a condition known as molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH), which can lead to poor enamel formation and an increased likelihood of cavities.

For their study, researchers from the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) in Paris, France, investigated the effects of BPA on rats at intervals ranging from birth to either 30 or 100 days. They kept a close eye on the oral health of the rats during this time, looking for any noteworthy changes that occurred in contrast to rats not exposed to the toxic industrial chemical.

At day 30, the team reportedly observed that the BPA-exposed rats had developed clear signs of MIH, which included the abnormal accumulation of albumin and other organic materials. This buildup led to fragile and brittle enamel formation, which in turn made the rats more prone to tooth decay and cavities. Two key genes involved in healthy tooth and enamel formation, enamelin and kallicrein 4, were found to have been obstructed as a result of BPA exposure.

"Insofar as BPA has the same mechanism of action in rats as in men, it could also be a causal agent of MIH," says Sylvie Babajko, author of the new study. "Therefore, teeth could be used as early markers of exposure to endocrine disruptors acting in the same way as BPA and so could help in early detection of serious pathologies that would otherwise have occurred several years later."

Specifically, BPA appears to disrupt the formation of enamel on teeth during the developmental years, a process that is necessary for healthy teeth later in life. And because it is an endocrine disruptor, which means it negatively affects hormonal balance, BPA could just be the tip of the iceberg as far as damage to teeth is concerned. The presence of MIH on teeth, in other words, could be caused not only by BPA, but also by a host of other endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs).

"Because human enamel defects are irreversible, MIH may provide an easily accessible marker for reporting early EDC exposure in humans," say the authors.

You can view the study's abstract for free here:
http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com

Reduce your BPA exposure by not touching thermal receipts, avoiding cans and plastic bottles

This is all highly concerning, as the primary substitute for amalgam (mercury alloy) fillings in teeth is composite resin fillings that more often than not contain BPA. In fact, composite fillings that contain BPA derivatives like Bis-GMA have actually been shown to be more harmful than many other common sources of BPA, which include things like polycarbonate plastic bottles and containers, plastic wrap, thermal paper receipts, food can linings, and even paper money.

The overall findings of the AJP study, however, affirm the notion that BPA harms developing mammals in a number of important ways. General BPA exposure has been linked in a cohort of studies to causing brain damage, reproductive problems, behavioral abnormalities, and even cancer.

"BPA is found in many drinking containers, the lining of most food and beverage cans (including soda cans), bottle caps, plastic cutlery, plastic food storage containers, toys, dental sealants, some dental composites, water pipes, eyeglass lenses, and more," explains Mother Earth News. "Polycarbonate is often blended with other plastics to create products such as mobile phone cases, car parts, electronic equipment, medical equipment and household items. Because BPA is in printer ink, newspapers and carbonless receipts, most recycled paper contains it, including paper towels and paper used to contain food."

Sources for this article include:

http://presse-inserm.fr

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130610133246.htm

http://chemicalwatch.com

http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.motherearthnews.com