Evaluation of systemic mercury levels after ocupational exposure to dental amalgam. PartII: longitudinal evaluation

Abstract

This study was a longitudinal evaluation of the systemic mercury exposure levels. Thirty urine samples were collected from ten male and female undergraduate dental school students, distributed into three dependent groups: G1 (n = 10) - students before their first contact with silver amalgam; G2 (n = 10) the same group of students within 48 hours after their first occupational contact with silver amalgam; G3 (n = 10) the same group of students at the end of the course, three and a half years later. In this study, the cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy (CVAAS) was used for urine analysis. There was a significant statistical difference to ANOVA test between dependent groups GR1 x GR2 (p = 0,001218) and GR2 x GR3 (p = 0,012423). Handling dental amalgam offers a potential risk to increase mercury levels.