Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the systemic mercury levels in urine of patients and dental school students caused by exposure to silver amalgam. It is currently believed that occupational exposure shows the highest rate of potential for poisoning by mercury. Dental professionals are part of that quota, introducing concerns regarding the handling of dental amalgam.
Materials And Methods: The study comprised 40 urine samples from 20 subjects, which were divided into four sampling groups: G1A (n = 10) composed of students before their first occupational contact; G1B (n = 10) composed of the same G1 students after their first contact; G2A (n = 10) composed of patients who needed to have dental restorations before amalgam removal; and G2B (n = 10) composed of patients who needed to have dental restoration after amalgam removal. Cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry (CVAAS) was used as the evaluation method.
Results: A statistically significant difference was found among dependent groups 1 and 2 (p = 0.0038), whereas mercury levels increased considerably after the first occupational contact of all subjects.
Conclusions: Occupational exposure to dental amalgam poses a potential risk of increasing systemic mercury levels, although urine mercury levels in all the sample participants were below the limits of biologic tolerance.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/pho.2009.2656 | DOI Listing |
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
January 2025
Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC, USA.
Liquid low-level radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site contains several species of mercury, including inorganic, elemental, and methylmercury. This waste is solidified and stabilized in a cementitious waste form referred to as saltstone. Soluble mercury is stabilized as β-cinnabar, HgS as the result of reaction between the mercury and sulfur present in blast furnace slag, one of the cementitious reagents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA.
Background: Elevated iron in brain is a source of free radicals that causes oxidative stress which has been linked to neuropathologies and cognitive impairment among older adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of iron levels with transverse relaxation rate, R, and white matter hyperintensities (WMH), independent of the effects of other metals and age-related neuropathologies.
Method: Cerebral hemispheres from 437 older adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project study (Table 1) were imaged ex-vivo using 3T MRI scanners.
Environ Sci Technol
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550082, P. R. China.
Rice leaves can assimilate atmospheric mercury (Hg), which is accumulated by grains and causes health risks to rice consumers. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying Hg assimilation in rice leaves remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated catalase's (CAT) function in Hg oxidation within rice leaves, as well as the Hg speciation and transcriptomic profiles of rice leaves exposed to Hg.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Pharmacol Toxicol
January 2025
Medical Toxicology and Drug Abuse Research Center (MTDRC), Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, 9713643138, Iran.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Food
January 2025
MOE Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
The neurotoxin methylmercury in seafood threatens food safety worldwide. China has implemented stringent wastewater policies, established numerous treatment facilities and enforced rigorous water quality standards to address pollution in its waterways. However, the impact of these policies on seafood safety and methylmercury exposure remains unknown.
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