JOURNAL OF FORENSIC AND LEGAL MEDICINE, vol.20, no.6, pp.706-710, 2013 (SCI-Expanded)
Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) has been studied in various tissues and body fluid for determination of alcohol intake. However, no study, dealing with EtG analysis in dental tissue, was performed so far. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate EtG levels in dental tissue.
Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) was performed to 29 participants. Following the test, cases were divided into three groups as non-hazardous alcohol users, alcohol abusers and 6 controls who verbally declared that they were abstainers. A total of 29 tooth specimens, obtained from participants, was included in the study. These specimens were analyzed using LC/MS/MS.
All of the participants included in the study were male. According to the MAST outcomes 14 of the participants were non-hazardous alcohol users, and 9 were alcohol abusers, while 6 patients verbally declared that they were abstainers. Dental tissue analyses revealed EtG levels ranging between EtG<LOD and 23.39 pg/mg. EtG levels were observed to be <LOD in dental specimens of 6 abstainer cases. A significant correlation was found between EtG levels measured in the dental tissues and MAST outcomes on the statistical analyses (r=0.914).
The findings of the present study demonstrated that dental tissue can be used for detection of alcohol intake, using LC/MS/MS.
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Alcohol intake; Dental tissue; Ethyl glucuronide; LC/MS/MS