US EPA

4977236 

Journal Article 

Dental amalgam mercury daily dose estimated from intra-oral vapor measurements: A predictor of mercury accumulation in human tissues 

Vimy, MJ; Lorscheider, FL 

1990 

1 

Journal of Trace Elements in Experimental Medicine
ISSN: 0896-548X
EISSN: 1520-670X 

3 

2 

111-124 

English 

BIOSIS COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Recent misconceptions regarding Hg exposure from dental amalgams have been based on several questionable assumptions. The present paper reexamines earlier estimations of Hg daily dose from dental amalgam in order to elaborate and refine the mechanical and volumetric parameters of open-mouth Hg vapor-sampling. This facilitates a comparison with the physiological parameters of human respiration. Corrections for the sampling factors of flow rate and sampling dilution, and the respiratory factor of Hg accumulation in the closed mouth between oral inhalations, reduce our original daily dose estimates by approximately 50%. Application of a general pharmacokinetic model with our revised Hg daily dose estimates results in predictions for brain, kidney, blood, and urine which approximate tissue Hg measurements reported in subjects with dental amalgams. When tissue Hg predictions are made based upon alternate Hg daily estimates proposed by other investigators, the resultant error