The first official paper from OMS, about inorganic mercury, in 1991, was helped very much by the work of Svare, who shows how vapors of Hg are always present in the oral cavity of the subjects with amalgam dental fillings even in cases where there was not a stimulation of obturated surfaces. The study of this author has shown how these concentrations are raised after mastication. In the OMS report, are mentioned even the works done from Vimy and Lorscheide (11), who talk about the behavior of amalgam fillings in rest and stimulation from mastication and then in rest again (12). Taking into account that this phenomenon happens three times a day (excluding other cases of stimulation as hot food and drinks, washing teeth) it’s understood that evaporation of mercury is not a coincidence.
Studies have shown that the amount of mercury released every day in the oral cavity is 0.5-1 µg. This amount released is presented in three forms:
Elementary mercury (Hg°) that is released continually from amalgam fillings Ionic mercury (Hg²⁺) that derives from oxidized vapors of mercury Organic mercury that derives from bacterial biotransformation of organic mercury