Background: Dental amalgam is a source of elemental and inorganic mercury. The safety of dental amalgam in\r\nindividuals remains a controversial issue. Urinary mercury concentrations are used to assess chronic exposure to\r\nelemental mercury. At present, there are no indications of mercury-associated adverse effects at levels below 5 Ã?µg\r\nHg/g creatinine (Cr) or 7 Ã?µg Hg/L (urine). The purpose of the present study is to determine the overall urinary\r\nmercury level in the Canadian general population in relation to the number of dental amalgam surfaces.\r\nMethods: Data come from the 2007/09 Canadian Health Measures Survey, which measured urinary mercury\r\nconcentrations in a nationally representative sample of 5,418 Canadians aged 6ââ?¬â??79 years. Urinary mercury\r\nconcentrations were stratified by sex, age, and number of dental amalgam surfaces.\r\nResults: The overall mean urinary mercury concentration varied between 0.12 Ã?µg Hg/L and 0.31 Ã?µg Hg/L or 0.13 Ã?µg\r\nHg/g Cr and 0.40 Ã?µg Hg/g Cr. In general, females showed slightly higher mean urinary mercury levels than men.\r\nThe overall 95th percentile was 2.95 Ã?µg Hg/L, the 99th percentile was 7.34E Ã?µg Hg/L, and the 99.9th percentile was\r\n17.45 Ã?µg Hg/L. Expressed as Ã?µg Hg/g Cr, the overall 95th percentile was 2.57 Ã?µg Hg/g Cr, the 99th percentile was\r\n5.65 Ã?µg Hg/g Cr, and the 99.9th percentiles was 12.14 Ã?µg Hg/g Cr. Overall, 98.2% of participants had urinary mercury\r\nlevels below 7 Ã?µg Hg/L and 97.7% had urinary mercury levels below 5 Ã?µg Hg/g Cr. All data are estimates for the\r\nCanadian population. The estimates followed by the letter ââ?¬Å?Eââ?¬Â should be interpreted with caution due to high\r\nsampling variability (coefficient of variation 16.6%-33.3%).\r\nConclusions: The mean urinary mercury concentrations in the general Canadian population are significantly lower\r\nthan the values considered to pose any risks for health
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