H. Kierdorf et al., BIOMONITORING OF FLUORIDE CONTAMINATION O F WILD RUMINANT HABITATS INNORTHERN BOHEMIA (CZECH-REPUBLIC), Zeitschrift fur Jagdwissenschaft, 42(1), 1996, pp. 41-52
Fluoride content and occurrence of dental fluorosis were studied in 39
mandibles of four ruminant species (red deer, roe deer, sika deer and
mouflon) from five hunting districts situated in the fluoride contami
nated ore mountains and its foreland in Northern Bohemia. Compared to
controls from areas in Germany not exposed to increased fluoride depos
ition, bone fluoride concentrations in the N-Bohemian red and roe deer
samples were elevated by factors of 5.5 and 6.6, respectively. All sp
ecimens from N-Bohemia exhibited characteristic dental lesions resulti
ng from chronic fluoride intoxication during tooth development. In the
three deer species, the degree of dental fluorosis of the permanent c
heek teeth was assessed using a scoring scheme. On the basis of these
individual tooth scores, dental lesion indices were calculated for the
tooth rows. Increase of this index (DLI) was positively associated wi
th an increase in bone fluoride concentration. Recording dental lesion
indices thus offers the opportunity for a quick and economic large sc
ale biomonitoring of the level of fluoride contamination of deer habit
ats. The differences in the degree of fluorotic alteration of the M(1)
and M(2) between fluorosed red and roe deer mandibles were related to
variation in the timing of mineralization of these teeth in the two s
pecies.