Home Page  

ASOMAT Recommendations to NHMRC Amalgam Review Working Party

June 1998

The costs of setting up an entirely new inquiry probably cannot be justified when much of the hard work has already been done. ASOMAT would welcome such an inquiry but we suggest that a more reasonable approach might be to adopt a policy which combines the recommendations of the various Government bodies ( discussed in Part A ) which have already looked at this issue. To that end ASOMAT offers the following recommendations for NHAC’s consideration.

• Amalgams should NOT be used in

  - pregnant women
  - breastfeeding women
  - children under the age of 6
  - people with kidney problems
  - people with neurological problems
  - in retrograde root-canal fillings
  - as cores underneath metal based crowns
  - in conjunction with other metals in the mouth
  - in people with diagnosed lichen planus
  - in people with compromised immune systems

• Amalgams should be phased out over a 3-5 year period and a concentrated retraining of the dental profession and a change in emphasis in clinical teaching institutions be implemented as soon as possible.

• Extensive revisions should be made to the NHMRC brochure in order to accurately reflect current research. It is also clear that the results of the Richardson report should be incorporated into such a document. ASOMAT would welcome involvement in the preparation of the revised brochure.

• TDI exposure values need to be determined as a guide to assessing acceptable mercury vapour exposure levels. ASOMAT does not recommend any particular values but believes that the Richardson report is an appropriate starting point from which to derive such values. ASOMAT would like to bring to the Working party’s attention that Dr. Mark Richardson will be visiting Australia in September 1998 and has indicated a willingness to meet and work with NHMRC. ASOMAT encourages NHMRC to consider meeting with Dr. Richardson to discuss the development of TDI levels for Australia.

• Research should be undertaken to determine the amount of mercury released into the sewerage systems by dental surgeries and consider requiring mandatory amalgam traps. A Pilot study in Seattle which looked at this found significant improvements in waste water quality after traps were installed in dental surgeries.

• Monitoring facilities should be established to enable dentists to have their offices checked for mercury vapour levels. Currently it is very difficult for this to be done, An Australia wide survey of mercury vapour levels in dental offices would be a very important step in gathering data which is presently not available.

   Home Page