Dentistry

Abstract

The Occurrence Of Delayed Adverse Health Effects In Dental Personnel After Exposure To Mercury

Hilt B, Sletvold H and Svendsen K

This paper gives some background information and sums up the results from research on possible late health effects in dental personnel after their occupational exposure to mercury from handling dental amalgam. We assessed that 0.5-2.8% of female dental assistants had possible delayed health injuries which mainly affected cognitive functions as a result of their occupational exposure to metallic mercury. Similar findings were not observed in dentists. When we followed all birth deliveries of 5,493 dental personnel compared to all other births in Norway from 1967 to 2006 in the National Birth Registry of Norway, we found no increase in the occurrence of malformations or other reproductive abnormalities in the dental personnel.