By assessing the dental fluorosis of roe deer, shot in 2007 (7,158 mandibles) we confirmed that eastern Slovenia is in general not polluted with fluorides (<1% of mandibles showed moderate to severe fluorosis). However, elevated fluoride pollution is present in the vicinity of the aluminium smelter in Kidričevo. The GRM model revealed that 3 variables exert impact on the distribution of dental fluorosis in eastern Slovenia: (i) distance from the smelter (explains 94.6% of the total variance); (ii) age of the animal (5%); and (iii) distance from the nearest forest edge (0.7%), respectively.
Studies on the impact of fluorides on mammals (primarily ungulates) are mainly performed either as different methods of accumulative bioindication (i.e. determination of fluoride levels in bones, e.g. mandibles) and/or as methods of response bioindication (e.g. macroscopic assessment of the presence and severity of dental fluorosis as a specific morphologic change, which is the consequence of fluorides affecting the formation of the enamel). For providing better understanding of advantages of bioindication by using roe deer mandibles we prepared a detailed overview of both groups of methods.