From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Radium jaw
Radium jaw
Radium jaw is an occupational disease brought on by the Another prominent example of this condition was the
ingestion and subsequent absorption of radium into the death of Eben Byers, an American industrialist, after tak-
bones of radium dial painters. The symptoms are necro- ing large doses of a patent medicine containing radium
sis of the mandible (lower jawbone) and the maxilla (up- over several years. His illness garnered much publicity,
per jaw) as well as constant bleeding of the gums and with the Wall Street Journal running a story titled "The
(usually) after some time, severe distortion due to bone Radium Water Worked Fine until His Jaw Came Off", and
tumours and porosity of the lower jaw. brought the problem of radioactive quack medicines into
The condition is similar to phossy jaw, an osteoporitic the public eye.
and osteonecrotic illness of matchgirls, brought on by
phosphorus ingestion and absorption. The first written
reference to the disease was by a dentist, Dr. Theodor
See also
Blum (1924), who described an unusual mandibular os- • United States Radium Corporation
teomyelitis in a dial painter, a condition he called “Radi- • Radiation sickness
um jaw.” • Radium Dial Company
The disease was determined by Dr. H.S. Martland in • Radium dials
1924 to be symptomatic of radium paint ingestion, after
many female workers from various radium paint com-
panies reported similar dental and mandibular pain. The
References
disease was the main reason for litigation against the • Radium in Humans: A Review of U.S. Studies
United States Radium Corporation by the so-called Radi-
um Girls.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radium_jaw&oldid=450155046"
Categories:
• Occupational diseases
• Radium
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