Release of mercury from amalgam filling and its relationship with metallothionein and superoxide dismutase

PURPOSE: This study aims at determining the amount of mercury released over time from amalgam after treatment in healthy subjects and to examine the relation of mercury with serum MT-1 and SOD-1 levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Amalgam filling was applied to the 15 subjects aged 19-22 years and blood samples were collected before treatment and 1 day, 7 days, 21 days and 35 days after treatment. Mercury analysis of serum samples was performed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). In addition, MT-1 and SOD-1 levels in serum samples were measured using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Friedman test and Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to analyse the data. p value was interpreted in significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: As a result of the analysis for MT-1, it was found that the values decreased over time and this decrease was statistically significant after 21 days (p<0.05). In addition, it was found that SOD-1 decreased over time, but this decrease was not statistically significant . In terms of released mercury, there was no statistically significant difference among the values of mercury released over time . According to the results of correlation analysis, no statistically significant relationship was found among the variables. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicated that the amount of mercury released from the tested amalgam were found to be tolerable and no significant relationship was found between MT-1 and SOD-1.