MERCURY CONTENT IN AMALGAM TATTOOS OF HUMAN ORAL-MUCOSA AND ITS RELATION TO LOCAL TISSUE-REACTIONS

Mucosal biopsies from 48 patients with and 9 without amalgam tattoos w ere analysed with respect to their mercury content, distribution of me rcury in the tissue, and histological tissue reactions. The distributi on of mercury was assessed by autometallography (AMG), a silver amplif ication technique. The mercury content was determined by energy disper sive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), a multielemental analysis. Mercury wa s observed in connective tissue where it was confined to fibroblasts a nd macrophages, in vessel walls and in structures with the histologica l character of nerve fibres. A correlation was found between the histo pathological tissue reaction, the type of mercury deposition, the inte nsity of the AMG reaction, and the mercury content. Mercury was also f ound in patients with amalgam dental fillings but without amalgam tatt oos.