Amalgam tooth fillings and man's mercury burden.

Next to nutrition, amalgam fillings represent the main source for exposure of the general population to mercury. Toxicological considerations focus on the dose of mercury resulting from such exposure. Various approaches to estimate this dose are reviewed. Introducing the dose into the known toxicokinetic model for mercury, tissue and blood and urine concentrations related to mercury release from the fillings can be predicted. These agree well with autopsy and in vivo observations. An assessment of the health hazard for individuals with amalgam fillings shows that the combined mercury intake from food and amalgam does not exceed the acceptable daily intake. In addition, blood and urine mercury concentrations of amalgam bearers are below one tenth of the critical values associated with the onset of early symptoms or of subclinical effects attributable to mercury.