What Is the Risk? Dental Amalgam, Mercury Exposure, and Human Health Risks Throughout the Life Span

Kall, John; Just, Amanda; Aschner, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-25325-1_7

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 239 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Occupational exposure is critical. For instance, the urinary Hg concentrations in dental health medics, chloralkali workers, and the general public are >30 μg L −1 [ 4 ], 34.3 μg L −1 [ 5 ], and 1.1 μg L −1 [ 6 ], respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury abatement in the environment: Insights from industrial emissions and fates in the environment

Kung,

Wu,

Huang

et al. 2024

Heliyon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury abatement in the environment: Insights from industrial emissions and fates in the environment

Kung,

Wu,

Huang

et al. 2024

Heliyon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Researchers have suggested that high-copper amalgam must have a minimum of 12 wt. % copper for the elimination of the γ 2 phase, which causes an emission of a high concentration of mercury vapor from the alloy [16][17][18][19]. The development of high-copper amalgam by adding silver-copper eutectic particles to traditional silver-tin lathe-cut particles while dispersion hardening the alloy is reported to produce improved physical properties [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination and Calculations of Mercury Vapor Concentration and Energy Released from Freshly Condensed Dental Amalgams Having Various Copper Percentages within the Alloy

Moxon

Chris-Okoro

et al. 2023

Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dental amalgam is an alloy consisting of a mixture of fine metallic powder of silver, tin, zinc, copper, and a trace amount of palladium in combination with about fifty percent elemental mercury that forms a matrix phase. Dental amalgams consisting of a high-copper content are the most common types of alloys currently utilized for the restoration of decayed, broken, and fractured posterior human teeth. The present research objective was primarily to improve the material properties by determining and analyzing the amount of mercury vapor released from dental amalgam received from eight different commercial brands. The mechanical hardness of the alloys was found to increase with an increase in copper content in the amalgam. The effect of copper addition on material aging was also studied. During the release of mercury vapor, the corresponding energies associated with the release of mercury vapor from each sample were determined for each successive measurement. The results indicated that increasing the copper content of the amalgam counters the release of mercury vapor from posterior teeth and improves the hardness properties.

show abstract

“…It is certain that there are susceptible subsets of the population that are more likely to be affected by chronic mercury exposure. In a recent study of the effects of mercury in a cohort of children, genetic polymorphisms were identified that made the participants more susceptible to mercury [27], and additional research has explored this pertinent genetic component [28]. Specifically, the role of genetic profiles in dental workers’ reactions to mercury has been examined [7–9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury vapor volatilization from particulate generated from dental amalgam removal with a high-speed dental drill – a significant source of exposure

Warwick¹,

Young²,

Palmer

et al. 2019

J Occup Med Toxicol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The ubiquitous use of dental amalgam for over 180 years has resulted in the exposure of millions of dental workers to mercury. Dental amalgam contains approximately 50% mercury. Dental workers, including dentists, dental assistants, and dental hygienists, have been shown to have increased levels of mercury and suffer more from health issues related to mercury exposure than the general public. Mercury is known to be absorbed via inhalation or through the skin. There are many routine dental procedures that require the removal of dental amalgam by using the dental high-speed drill, which we suspected generates an occupational mercury exposure that is not sufficiently recognized. Results We showed that drilling dental amalgam generates particulate that volatilizes significant amounts of mercury vapor generally for more than an hour after removal. The levels of mercury vapor created by this procedure frequently exceed the safety thresholds of several jurisdictions and agencies. Conclusions A significant, underrecognized source of localized exposure to mercury vapor was identified in this study. The vapor was created by microgram levels of particulate generated from dental amalgam removal with a high-speed dental drill, even when all feasible engineering controls were used to reduce mercury exposure. This exposure may explain why dental workers incur health effects when safety thresholds are not breached. The dispersion patterns for the particulate are not known, so the use of effective skin barriers and inhalation protection are required during amalgam removal to protect the dental worker from this form of occupational mercury exposure. Standard methodologies for occupational mercury exposure assessment appear to be inadequate when assessing mercury exposure during amalgam removal. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12995-019-0240-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

What Is the Risk? Dental Amalgam, Mercury Exposure, and Human Health Risks Throughout the Life Span

Cited by 7 publications

References 239 publications

Mercury abatement in the environment: Insights from industrial emissions and fates in the environment

Mercury abatement in the environment: Insights from industrial emissions and fates in the environment

Determination and Calculations of Mercury Vapor Concentration and Energy Released from Freshly Condensed Dental Amalgams Having Various Copper Percentages within the Alloy

Mercury vapor volatilization from particulate generated from dental amalgam removal with a high-speed dental drill – a significant source of exposure

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About