Mercury and Arsenic Levels Among Lebanese Dentists: A Call for Action

Harakeh, Steve; Sabra, Nada; Kassak, Kassem; Doughan, Bassel; Sukhn, Carol

doi:10.1007/s00128-003-0031-3

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In the only study on hair mercury level (HML) in IDs, mean was assessed to be 2.84 μg/g. The results of this work showed that the mean HML in IDs compared with the allowable limit of WHO was higher, which was consistent with the results of other studies in countries of Lebanon (5.58 μg/g) [110] and USA (4.11 μg/g) [111]. However, the results of studies in other countries, such as Sri Lanka (0.005 μg/g) [112], USA (0.60 μg/g) [80], USA (0.62 μg/g) [91], the Netherlands (1.88 μg/L) [98], USA (0.51 μg/L) [103], CZECH (0.51 μg/L) [113], United Kingdom (0.71 μg/g) [96], and Scotland (1 μg/g) [104], were below the WHO reference value.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Mercury level in biological samples of dentists in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jafari

Esrafili

Moradi

et al. 2020

J Environ Health Sci Engineer

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Exposure to mercury is an important risk to dentists health. The aim of the present study was to assess the pooled mean mercury level (MML) in the urine, blood, nail, and hair of Iranian dentists (IDs) through the meta-analysis technique. Comprehensive and systematic searches were performed in main local databases including SID, Magiran, Iran medex, and ISC as well as internationally available databases including Embase, PubMed and Scopus for all the relevant studies up to 2018. In order to prevent bias in this study and identify eligible studies, various steps of the study was performed independently by two researchers. Out of 13 studies in the meta-analysis process which included 1499 IDs, the mean of the mercury level in the urine, nail, and blood was estimated to be 6.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Mercury level in biological samples of dentists in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jafari

Esrafili

Moradi

et al. 2020

J Environ Health Sci Engineer

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“…A simple literature research reveals quite the opposite: Dentists working with amalgam have an increased mercury exposure [17,181,182]. In most studies available, mercury exposure in dental clinics resulted in significant adverse health effects in dental workers.…”

Section: Adverse Health Effects In Dental Staff?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is dental amalgam safe for humans? The opinion of the scientific committee of the European Commission

Mutter¹

2011

J Occup Med Toxicol

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It was claimed by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR)) in a report to the EU-Commission that "....no risks of adverse systemic effects exist and the current use of dental amalgam does not pose a risk of systemic disease..." [1, available from: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/docs/scenihr_o_016.pdf].SCENIHR disregarded the toxicology of mercury and did not include most important scientific studies in their review. But the real scientific data show that:(a) Dental amalgam is by far the main source of human total mercury body burden. This is proven by autopsy studies which found 2-12 times more mercury in body tissues of individuals with dental amalgam. Autopsy studies are the most valuable and most important studies for examining the amalgam-caused mercury body burden.(b) These autopsy studies have shown consistently that many individuals with amalgam have toxic levels of mercury in their brains or kidneys.(c) There is no correlation between mercury levels in blood or urine, and the levels in body tissues or the severity of clinical symptoms. SCENIHR only relied on levels in urine or blood.(d) The half-life of mercury in the brain can last from several years to decades, thus mercury accumulates over time of amalgam exposure in body tissues to toxic levels. However, SCENIHR state that the half-life of mercury in the body is only "20-90 days".(e) Mercury vapor is about ten times more toxic than lead on human neurons and with synergistic toxicity to other metals.(f) Most studies cited by SCENIHR which conclude that amalgam fillings are safe have severe methodical flaws.

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“…Mercury poisoning could be characterized by tumours of arms, legs, or face and could also be incorporated with progressive, tremulous illegible handwriting, and slurred speech. It is been published by literature research that Dentists manipulating with amalgam have chances of increased mercury exposure [28][29] [30] . One study has revealed that dental female assistants exposed to amalgam elicit a high rate of infertility [31] .…”

Section: Risks To Dental Personnelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perturbation Encompassing Dental Amalgam Toxicity: A Review

2020

IJFMT

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Amalgam in dentistry has been in use for over 150 years and still been widely used because of its low cost, easy application, durability, bacteriostatic effect, and strength. Whenever aesthetics isn't the prime concern it is possibly used with no age bar, in areas of stress, as a foundation for cast-metals, ceramic restorations, and below-par oral hygiene conditions. Its advantages such as long-lasting and being less technique sensitive among all restorative materials, there has been growing concern about amalgam that it causes mercury toxicity. Mercury (Hg) has been historically popular as one of the extremely toxic nonradioactive materials. Therefore, the present article aims to discuss and assess a brief historical review of literature on its adverse effects, toxicological aspects that have been noted, potential risks relating to the dental personnel's and its safe and effective way of manipulating and handling concerning the use of mercury in dentistry.

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Mercury and Arsenic Levels Among Lebanese Dentists: A Call for Action

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Mercury level in biological samples of dentists in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mercury level in biological samples of dentists in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Is dental amalgam safe for humans? The opinion of the scientific committee of the European Commission

The Perturbation Encompassing Dental Amalgam Toxicity: A Review

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