Doctors have recorded in a 62-year-old resident of Great Britain a rare neurological disorder caused by the use of toothpaste to care for dentures, Gizmodo reports with reference to the BMJ Case Reports magazine.
The first alarming symptom was reported to be numbness in the legs, which progressed over six months. As a result, the Briton stopped walking independently without a cane, and soon she did not help either.
After a series of examinations, doctors diagnosed the Briton with spinal cord damage caused by an acute lack of copper in the body. In parallel, experts have recorded an excess of zinc in the body. The last trace element, binding to the same receptors as copper ions, provoked a chemical imbalance in cells.
As it turned out, a 62-year-old man used two to three tubes of zinc toothpaste weekly to care for his dentures. As a result, the concentration of the latter in the body was several times higher than the norm of 15 milligrams per day.
After the abolition of the zinc paste and the introduction of copper into the body, the development of the disease was stopped, but the Briton still needs a wheelchair.