Denture cream: an unusual source of excess zinc, leading to hypocupremia and neurologic disease

Nations SP, Boyer PJ, Love LA, et al. · Neurology

Chronic excess zinc ingestion produced copper deficiency with serious neurologic disease (myeloneuropathy); zinc levels improved after stopping the cream, and copper supplementation brought only mild neurologic improvement — recovery is often incomplete.

Population

Four denture wearers with neurologic disease, high serum zinc and low copper

Intervention

Chronic heavy use of zinc-containing denture cream (17,000-34,000 ug zinc per gram of cream)

Comparator

None (case series)

Limitations

Four cases with unquantified (but clearly very large) zinc doses; establishes the syndrome and its mechanism, not its frequency or a threshold dose.