Ever wonder if the bleaching agents you are using for whiter teeth make the amalgam-silver fillings in your mouth release mercury?
This in-vitro study from Tabriz University of Medical Studies in Iran “evaluated the amount of dissolved mercury released from amalgam restorations with various percent-ages of silver content subsequent to the use of 15% carbamide peroxide bleaching agent.” The authors concluded: ” the amount of mercury release is inversely proportional to the silver content of dental amalgam.”
The amount of mercury released under the influence of carbamide peroxide bleaching products was significantly higher than that under the influence of the control (a buffered phosphate solution). In addition, the amount of mercury released from the dental amalgam with a silver content of 43% was significantly higher than that released from dental amalgam with a silver content of 69%.
The results of the study showed that mercury is released from dental amalgam under physiologic (living ) conditions and its release significantly increases after exposure to carbamide peroxide products. The study gave the references to some of the many studies in the past that have confirmed this fact.
If you have mercury fillings in your mouth, then you will have significantly more mercury body exposure to this mercury if you bleach your teeth.
J Dent Res Dent Clin Dent Prospects. 2016 Spring; 10(2): 118-123. Mahmoud Bahari, et al.
For more information on the topic of bleaching agents and mercury release, please come and talk to us. We also have an extended library in our waiting room area, to which we welcome all our patients.
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