Government agencies and medical studies have found that the number one source of mercury in people is from dental amalgam fillings. Exposure from fillings amounts to from 50 to 90 percent of exposure, with the average being about 80 % of total exposure. The studies found that mercury amalgams are unstable due to mercury’s low vapor pressure and galvanic action, leaking mercury vapor continuously into the lungs and saliva at levels exceeding health standards.

Mercury exposure of most people with fillings was found to exceed government health standards and levels found to cause adverse health effects(see below).

The U.S.EPA mercury health standard1 for elemental mercury exposure(vapor) is 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter of air(0.3 ug/M3). For the average adult breathing 20 M3 of air per day, this amounts to an exposure of 6 micrograms(ug) per day.

The corresponding tolerable daily exposure developed in a report for the Canadian Health Agency, Health Canada, is .014 ug/kg body weight or 1 ug/day for average adult2. The U.S. Agency for toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR) standard (MRL) -for acute inhalation exposure to mercury vapor is 0.02 micrograms Hg/m3, which translates to approx. 1.2 ug/day for the average adult.

The range of mercury exposure levels found in people with amalgam fillings by the World Health Organization Scientific Panel on Mercury was 3 to 70 micrograms per day, with other medical studies finding up to 200 ug/day in gum chewers or people who grind their teeth.

The average exposure was above 10 ug/day. The average mercury exposure for a Canadian adult with amalgam fillings was found in the Health Canada study to be 9 ug/day. In a large German study with 20,000 tested subjects at a University Medical Clinic, the average exposure from fillings was over 10 ug/day and over 50 % of all those with 6 or more amalgam fillings had daily exposure exceeding the EPA health guideline.

Studies have consistently found modern high copper non gamma-two amalgams have greater release of mercury vapor than conventional silver amalgams.Recent studies have concluded that because of the high mercury release levels of modern amalgams, mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings is widespread throughout the population”.

Common levels found in persons with amalgam dental products fillings are over 10 times the Health Canada TDE, and more than the EPA health standard for mercury vapor. Thus persons with amalgam fillings have levels of intraoral mercury vapor and body exposure levels higher than the level considered to have significant health risk.

The studies found that Total mercury intake is proportional to the number and extent of amalgam surfaces, but other factors such as chewing gum and drinking hot liquids influence the intake significantly increasing exposure as much as 500%. ).

A World Health Organzation Scientific Panel concluded that a safe level of mercury exposure below which no adverse effects occur has never been established.