Commercially available mouthguards: Unearthing trace elements for the first time

Jesse R Ingham; George L Donati; Liliya Douvris; Georgios Bartzas; Derek D Bussan; Chris Douvris

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172790

Commercially available mouthguards: Unearthing trace elements for the first time

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Apr 25:930:172790. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172790. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jesse R Ingham¹, George L Donati¹, Liliya Douvris², Georgios Bartzas³, Derek D Bussan⁴, Chris Douvris⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Salem Hall, Box 7486, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA.
² Theobald Science Center, Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA.
³ School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou str., 157 80 Zografos, Athens, Greece.
⁴ Nistler College of Business and Public Administration, Department of Marketing, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA.
⁵ Theobald Science Center, Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA. Electronic address: cdouvris@nyit.edu.

PMID: 38677440
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172790

Abstract

The use of mouthguards is advocated by the American Dental Association for orofacial injury prevention and teeth protection. However, the chemical environment in the mouth may cause harmful substances within the mouthguard's polymer material to leach out and be absorbed by the user. Considering this, the present study for the first time analyzed commercially available mouthguards and disclosed the presence of trace elements. Specifically, an analytical method was developed based on closed-vessel microwave-assisted digestion and plasma-based atomic spectrometry for determining toxic trace elements in mouthguard samples. Initially, 75 elements were assessed and, thereafter, quantified cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) in each sample by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Method validation was carried out by analyzing a certified reference material of Low-Density Polyethylene, and by addition and recovery experiments. Results for copper were further validated by ICP optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). While most samples exhibited elemental levels beneath the method's limit of quantification, Cd, Cu and Pb were detected in four samples. Remarkably, one sample had Cu levels exceeding safe limits by 109 times, highlighting potential toxicity risks. This initial research underscores the need for stricter contamination control in mouthguard materials to minimize potentially health hazards.

Keywords: ICP-MS; ICP-OES; Quality control; Trace elements.