Dental Amalgam and Psychosocial Status: The New England Children’s Amalgam Trial

High-dose exposures to elemental mercury vapor cause emotional dysfunction, but it is uncertain whether the levels of exposure that result from having dental amalgam restorations do so. As part of the New England Children’s Amalgam Trial, a randomized trial involving 6- to 10-year-old children, we e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of dental research Vol. 87; no. 5; pp. 470 - 474
Main Authors Bellinger, D.C., Trachtenberg, F., Zhang, A., Tavares, M., Daniel, D., McKinlay, S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States SAGE Publications 01.05.2008
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Analysis of Variance
Child
Child Behavior - drug effects
Child Behavior - psychology
Child Behavior Disorders - chemically induced
Child Behavior Disorders - psychology
Composite Resins - therapeutic use
Dental Amalgam - adverse effects
Dental Amalgam - therapeutic use
Dental Caries - therapy
Dental Restoration, Permanent - methods
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Maine
Male
Massachusetts
Mercury - blood
Mercury - urine
Mercury Poisoning - complications
Mercury Poisoning - psychology
Neuropsychological Tests
Maine
Massachusetts
psychosocial function
children
dental amalgam
randomized trial
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Summary:High-dose exposures to elemental mercury vapor cause emotional dysfunction, but it is uncertain whether the levels of exposure that result from having dental amalgam restorations do so. As part of the New England Children’s Amalgam Trial, a randomized trial involving 6- to 10-year-old children, we evaluated the hypothesis that restoration of caries using dental amalgam resulted in worse psychosocial outcomes than restoration using mercury-free composite resin. The primary outcome was the parent-completed Child Behavior Checklist. The secondary outcome was children’s self-reports using the Behavior Assessment System for Children. Children’s psychosocial status was evaluated in relation to three indices of mercury exposure: treatment assignment, surface-years of amalgam, and urinary mercury excretion. All significant associations favored the amalgam group. No evidence was found that exposure to mercury from dental amalgams was associated with adverse psychosocial outcomes over the five-year period following initial placement of amalgams.
ISSN:0022-0345
1544-0591
DOI:10.1177/154405910808700504