Urine Content Mercury Test For Amalgam Fillings Could Be Unreliable
It is widely known that amalgam fillings release mercury vapour into a person’s oral cavity.
However how much is actually given off and whether or not it can pose a considerable health risk to those with the fillings is a hotly debated topic.
New developments have furthered the confusion over these issues.
It was accepted that testing urine for inorganic mercury content could yield an accurate enough result to give an estimate of the exposure to mercury produced by amalgam fillings. However now, this commonly used public health method is under fire.
This is because a U-M study in Michigan has shed light on mercury content in human urine as potentially coming from two sources; amalgam fillings and fish.
After testing urine samples in communities that had diets high in fish containing organic mercury, scientists believe there could be a case for changing the testing technique.
U-M worker Joel D. Blum said, “These data suggest that in populations that eat fish but lack occupational exposure to mercury vapour, mercury concentrations in urine may overestimate exposure to mercury vapour from dental amalgams.”
The study could cause health officials to rethink their methods in the near future.
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