MERCURY LEVELS AMONG DENTAL PERSONNEL IN ISRAEL - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Amalgam, the most prevalent dental restoration material used in dentis try, is potentially toxic because it contains mercury. Recent internat ional publications confirm that mercury is potentially hazardous to de ntal personnel, who are exposed to mercury vapors both during their wo rk at the office and from amalgam restorations in their own oral cavit ies. The purpose of our study was to compare urinary mercury levels of dental personnel with a control group, and to explore possible correl ations between environmental factors in the dental office and the urin ary level of the personnel. Our results indicate that the urinary merc ury levels of the tested dental professionals were significantly highe r than those of the control group (2.39+/-0.319 vs. 0.899+/-0.34 mu g mercury/g creatinine). Of the dental personnel examined, 72% had detec table levels of urinary mercury, compared to 27% of the control group. Although mercury levels in all participants did not exceed the toxic limit the above findings clearly point to the need for a continuation of this survey.