DENTAL AMALGAM, LOW-DOSE EXPOSURE TO MERCURY, AND URINARY PROTEINS INYOUNG SWEDISH MEN

Chronic exposure to inorganic mercury can cause kidney injury. Evidenc e gained from occupational medicine indicates that individuals who are exposed to only environmental sources, including amalgam tooth fillin gs, are at very little risk. Animal experiments, however, have reveale d glomerular lesions of immunologic origin after low-dose exposure to inorganic mercury. In this study, the association between the number o f amalgam tooth surfaces, urinary mercury, and proteinuria was explore d in a sample of 48 randomly selected, apparently healthy male student s who were 17-22 y of age. Presence of any of the following proteins i n two separate urine samples was considered to be potentially indicati ve of any tubular and/or glomerular lesion: albumin, alpha-1-microglob ulin (HC-protein), kappa and lambda light chains, and N-acetyl-beta-D- glucosaminidase. No significant relationship was found between any of the proteins and amalgam or urinary mercury. The results of this study did not suggest that amalgam fillings cause kidney dysfunction in hum ans.