Relationship of strontium in drinking water and surface enamel.

The Sr content of surface enamel of 233 teeth from nine communities was related to drinking water Sr concentrations. These water concentrations ranged from 0.02 microgram/ml to 33.9 microgram/ml. The relationship between enamel concentrations and water concentrations was linear for water concentrations less than 10 microgram/ml Sr, but leveled off at approximately 300 microgram/gm Sr in the enamel for communities with greater than 10 microgram/ml Sr in drinking water. Binding of Sr to components in the oral environment is proposed as an explanation of this effect.