ESTIMATION OF MERCURY DOSE BY A NOVEL QUANTITATION OF ELEMENTAL AND INORGANIC SPECIES RELEASED FROM AMALGAM

Amalgam fillings constitute, after food, the main source of exposure t o mercury for the general population. An evaluation of potential healt h risks has to be based on the dose of mercury released from the filli ngs. This dose is estimated by a new procedure of mercury speciation w hich elutes the released elemental and inorganic mercury with solvents of different polarity (paraffin and saline). In vitro tests with sphe rical amalgam pellets have shown that mercury release into the solvent s is linearily correlated to time and amalgam surface area. Doses esti mated in volunteers by this method average 4.5 mu g/day (range 0.3-13. 9), as compared to a dose of 3.4 mu g/day (range 0.1-11.8) measured co nventionally in the oral air. The aforementioned dose, combined with t he nearly equal mercury uptake from food, is below the acceptable dail y intake of 40 mu g for all forms of mercury.