The future of dental amalgam: a review of the literature. Part 5: Mercury in the urine, blood and body organs from amalgam fillings.

This is the fifth article in a series of seven on the future of dental amalgam. This covers the studies of mercury distribution to the blood, body organs and the fetus and its excretion in the urine and faeces of humans and experimental animals. It firstly describes the clinical studies comparing the blood and urine mercury levels in patients with and without amalgam fillings and goes on to consider attempts which have been made to calculate tolerable mercury thresholds for the urine. It secondly describes the studies on the body distribution of mercury from amalgam restorations in experimental animals and human cadavers. It finally describes the studies of mercury distribution to the fetus during pregnancy and includes both studies of experimental animals and human clinical studies. The factors affecting the accuracy of these calculations and the relevance of these results is also extensively discussed.