Dental amalgam implantation and thyroid autoimmunity.

OBJECTIVE

Mercury was heavily studied as a factor in the autoimmune processes. We aimed to observe whether mercury of amalgam is associated with Hashimoto disease.

BACKGROUND

363 patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 365 control subjects were included in to the study. Amalgam fillings were checked by the physician.

METHODS

363 (49.9 %) patients and 365 (50.1 %) healthy controls were included into the study. Hashimoto's thyroiditis was diagnosed with thyroid hormones, antithyroid antibody levels, and ultrasonographic findings. Control subjects were selected from patients with no known autoimmune diseases. They were controlled with ultrasonography, as well as antibody titers. None of them had Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

RESULTS

Sex distribution of the study population was following: 319 (87.9 %) female, 44 (12.1 %) male in the patient group and 277 (75.9 %) male and 88 (24.1 %) female in healthy control subjects, respectively. Mean free T4 values for Hashimoto's thyroiditis and healthy control group were 15.30±0.76, 17.30±0.96 pmol/L and mean TSH values for Hashimoto's thyroiditis and healthy control group were 9.29±20.79, 1.20±0.32 uIU/ml. Frequency of dental amalgam implantation in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis was not statistically significantly different from healthy controls (p=186) (t=-1.324)

CONCLUSIONS

Some studies identified mercury of amalgam as responsible for autoimmune thyroiditis. We studied whether amalgam fillings are more frequent in Hashimoto's thyroiditis patients and whether it is a causative factor for Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Statistical analysis revealed that there is no relation of amalgam with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (Tab. 1, Ref. 34).