[Illnesses caused by amalgam?].

BACKGROUND

As side effects of dental amalgam have been mentioned allergy, oral lichen, electro-galvanism, amalgam tattoos of gingiva or oral mucosa, and undesirable esthetics. Patients with amalgam restorations show increased mercury levels in different body fluids compared to amalgam-free controls. An intoxication due to dental amalgam fillings, however, is not to be expected-despite equivocal statements in the literature.

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS

In contrast, recent studies revealed that dental amalgam contributes to mercury exposure less than assumed few years ago. Therefore, amalgam will stay an option as a restorative material in future. The removal of intact amalgam fillings in the intention of "detoxification" is not science-based.

CONCLUSION

Successful caries prevention (e.g. due to the widespread use of fluoride) and the further development of esthetic restorative materials based on composite resins will limit the utilisation of amalgam. Thus, alternative materials have not been shown to have a lower rate of side effects (e.g. allergy) compared to amalgam.