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A 2003 monograph on mercury toxicity from the WHO concluded that dental amalgam contributes significantly to mercury body burden in humans with amalgam fillings and that dental amalgam is the most common form of exposure to elemental mercury in the general population, constituting a potentially significant source of exposure to elemental mercury.
Amalgam filling on first molar. In dentistry, amalgam is an alloy of mercury used to fill teeth cavities. [1] It is made by mixing a combination of liquid mercury and particles of solid metals such as silver, copper or tin.
Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, the notable exceptions being iron, platinum, tungsten, and tantalum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore. Dentistry has used alloys of mercury with metals such as silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc.
The major components of amalgam are silver, tin and copper. [12] Other metals and small amounts of minor elements such as zinc, mercury, palladium, platinum and indium are also present. [12] Earlier versions of dental amalgams, known as 'conventional' amalgams consisted of at least 65 wt% silver, 29 wt% tin, and less than 6 wt% copper. [12]
Lead fillings were used in the 18th century, but became unpopular in the 19th century because of their softness. This was before lead poisoning was understood. According to American Civil War-era dental handbooks, since the early 19th century metallic fillings had been made of lead, gold, tin, platinum, silver, aluminum, or amalgam. A pellet ...
Hal Alan Huggins (1937 – November 29, 2014) was an American alternative dentistry advocate and campaigner against the use of dental amalgam fillings and other dental therapies that he believed to be unsafe.
[16] [17] Additionally, when a meeting, "Mercury in Medicine: Are we taking unnecessary risks?", was held on July 18, 2000, Aposhian said, "The mercury amalgams in your mouth, the so-called silver fillings, contain 48 to 50 percent of elemental mercury. These fillings continuously emit mercury vapor, which will go to the brain and is converted ...
When amalgam fillings are drilled for height adjustment, repair or replacement, some mercury-containing amalgam is inevitably washed down drains. (See Dental amalgam controversy - Environmental impact) When amalgam fillings are prepared by dentists, improperly disposed excess material may enter landfills or be incinerated. Cremation of bodies ...