[Mercury levels in urine and head hair of dental personnel].

As dentists and their assistants are usually exposed to mercury in their clinical practices. The objective was to investigate the mercury level in these dental personnel. Urine and head hair samples were collected from 201 dental personnel and 57 unexposed controls for mercury analysis. The mercury content was analyzed by using cold vapour atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results showed that mercury levels in the urine and head hair of dental personnel were significantly higher than in the controls (P less than 0.01). The urine mercury concentration of the unexposed controls ranged from 0.1-10.0 micrograms/l (means = 2.6 +/- 0.29 micrograms/l). The highest urine mercury level was found in the group of dental assistant (means = 17.1 +/- 2.44 micrograms/l). The mean urine mercury levels found in dentists, dental students and dental technicians were 10.1 +/- 1.42, 11.1 +/- 1.69 and 3.2 +/- 0.69 micrograms/l respectively. The amounts of urine mercury from dental assistants, dentists and dental students were 81.0%, 38.2% and 43.5% higher than the threshold limit value respectively. The mean head hair mercury concentration of unexposed controls ranged from 0.3-12.2 micrograms/g (means = 2.8 +/- 0.36 micrograms/g). The highest head hair mercury concentration was found in the group of dental assistant and 6th year dental students (means = 10.1 +/- 0.84 and 10.5 +/- 3.2 micrograms/g). The mean head hair mercury levels found in dental assistants, dentists, dental students and dental technicians were 10.1 +/- 0.84, 7.5 +/- 1.2, 6.5 +/- 1.54 and 2.8 +/- 0.53 micrograms/g respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)