Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have obtained a sample of over 100,000 baby teeth that they plan to use to determine indicators of individualsâ long-term health.
The teeth are left over from the âBaby Tooth Survey,â a study conducted in St. Louis in the 1960s to measure the amount of strontium 90, a radioactive element not found in nature, in children. Schoolchildren were encouraged to send in their teeth to the researchers to receive a collectible button.
The teeth were donated to the Harvard researchers by Joseph J. Mangano, the executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project, a non-profit organization that investigates and communicates effects of low-level nuclear fallout on public health.