iaomtlibrary

“The debate about mercury and dental amalgam has been one of the longest running in dentistry, and shows no signs of abating. This study aimed to investigate perceptions about mercury in dental fillings among a representative sample of the Australian public. A random sub-sample of participants in a national dental telephone interview survey completed a follow-up postal questionnaire which included four items on dental mercury. The postal survey response rate was 85.2%. Concern about mercury in dental fillings was expressed by 37.5%, while 16.2% reported having requested fillings that do not contain mercury. Avoidance of dental care because of concern about mercury in fillings was reported by 5.8%, but only 4.7% reported having had fillings replaced because they contained mercury. The data indicate that there is a substantial degree of concern about mercury and dental amalgam among the Australian public, but that the dental behavioural and treatment-pattern consequences of that concern are infrequent.”

“Total tubulin protein levels remained relatively unchanged between Hg0 exposed rat brains and controls, and between Alzheimer brains and controls. Since the rate of tubulin polymerization is dependent upon binding of GTP to tubulin dimers, we conclude that chronic inhalation of low-level Hg0 can inhibit polymerization of brain tubulin essential for formation of microtubules.”

“High-dose exposure to inorganic mercury in man can influence the immune system and in rare cases cause immune-related disease. Some experimental animals also react with autoimmunity after low doses of inorganic mercury. Glomerulonephritis and an increased formation of immunoglobulin type E (IgE) are characteristic of these reactions. A recent study of 15-year-old adolescents demonstrated an association between immunoglobulin type A (IgA) and mercury concentration in plasma (P-Hg). There was also an association between allergic disease and IgA levels. The present study included 54 male and 23 female 19-year-old students who were recruited from a cohort that had been previously defined in a survey of allergic disease. Of the students, 39 (51%) had asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis or eczema. Similar amalgam burden and P-Hg levels were observed in students with (n = 39) and without (n = 38) allergic disease (P = 0.48 and P = 0.98, respectively). As expected, IgE levels were significantly higher in the group with allergic disease (P = 0.006), but there was no association between P-Hg and IgE. The P-Hg levels were very low (median 1.50 nmol/l) and correlated significantly (r = 0.31) with the small number of amalgam surfaces (P = 0.007). Thirty-seven students had no amalgam fillings. P-Hg levels did not associate significantly with IgA, but did so with IgG2 (r = 0.33; P = 0.003). No conclusive correlation was observed between IgG2 and amalgam fillings. The findings of this study in 19-year-old subjects differ from earlier data obtained in a sample 4 years younger. The possibility of chance in the association between P-Hg levels and IgG2 must, however, be considered.”

“This paper reviews the basic methodology of risk assessment and describes the four steps involved, namely hazard identification, hazard evaluation, exposure evaluation, and risk estimation. The risk posed by the release of mercury vapor from dental amalgam restorations is used as an example to demonstrate the advantages and limitations of this process.”

“To estimate environmental burden of mercury from dental clinics, a survey was conducted in 1993 at dental clinics in northern part of Sweden. Factors regarding amalgam separators, maintenance and disposal of collected sludge, age of clinics, cleaning of waste pipes, and sorting and handling of amalgam contaminated products were investigated. The result showed that many were not familiar with maintenance of the amalgam separator. A majority, 68%, were working in clinics older than 10 years, but only 9% reported that waste pipes had been cleaned or changed. Classification of amalgam contaminated products as high-risk and low-risk waste differed a lot, as well as handling of waste products. The result shows that there is need for more information and attention to all individuals working in Dental Care on how to reduce environmental burden of mercury from dental clinics.”

“53 patients with complaints which they attributed to their amalgam fillings, and with pathological tests indicating abnormality of the immune system, were followed for 1-3 years after the removal of all, part of, or none of their amalgam fillings. Within the group of 34 individuals who had all their amalgam fillings replaced, there was a significant number of decreased antibody titres, but only two had normalised their laboratory tests after 1-3 years. A significant improvement in subjective symptoms occurred in 20 (59%) of cases. In the group of patients who still had amalgam fillings, there were no statistically significant changes in the antibody titres. It thus seems that mercury released from amalgam fillings may initiate or support an ongoing immune disease. However, this study group was rather heterogeneous and had received various pharmacological treatments. Further studies, are, therefore, needed to confirm, or refute, the results.”

“We report the presence of methyl mercury from the analysis of three samples of restorations associated with dental amalgam. We believe this to be the first finding of methyl mercury in the human mouth. Although the amounts found are small (4.0, 5.3 and 37.3 ng per sample), any measurable amount of methyl mercury contributes to the total body’s burden of mercury. Despite the long history of apparent safe use of dental amalgams, this finding obviously warrants further investigation and confirmation. A possible mechanism to explain the formation and distribution of methyl mercury from dental amalgams is proposed.”

“Mercury has been widely discussed in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. [1,2] We describe a case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after accidental injection of mercury.”

“Clinical procedures in dental offices generate quantities of waste slurry or fine particulate matter, much of which is derived from dental amalgam filling material. This mercury-containing material is discharged into waste streams via the dental office vacuum-pump system. This system also discharges large quantities of air, either into the atmosphere exterior to the office building or into the sewer system, depending on the type of equipment used. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the discharged air contained mercury vapor.”

“Modulation of the agonist-specific cytosolic Ca2+ oscillatory pattern by thimerosal has been investigated in single pancreatic acinar cells using patch-clamp perforated whole-cell recording to measure the calcium-dependent chloride current (I(C1)(Ca2+)). 1 microM thimerosal, which fails to evoke Ca2+ oscillation alone, clearly changed the pattern of Ca2+ oscillation from pulsatile spikes (evoked by low concentrations of activators) to sinusoidal or transient oscillations. The mimetic action of thimerosal was independent of extracellular Ca2+, was blocked by extracellular application of dithiothreitol or 10 mM caffeine, as well as by internal perfusion with heparin; but was unaffected by ruthenium red. We conclude that thimerosal modulates the agonist-specific cytosolic Ca2+ oscillatory patterns mediated by sensitizing the InsP3-induced Ca2+ release.”