Einstellung und Verhalten zur Mundgesundheit bei Amalgamträgern

Symptoms experienced by patients who have dental amalgam fillings have often been studied. Due to the inability to prove toxic and allergic effects on patients with amalgam fillings, attempts to explain these rather unspecific symptoms have been made. One such explanation lies in the general concept patients with amalgam fillings have toward oral hygiene and health. Some studies have come to the conclusion that patients feeling threatened from amalgam have a higher conscience of materials used in their dental care and are more prone to have related amalgam symptoms. As part of this thesis, further analysis is made towards defining if this behaviour is specific to those with amalgam fillings, or if also patients without amalgam are affected. To this effect, the behaviour of patients with amalgam fillings was studied. Their oral hygiene, aesthetic conscience, caries prophylaxis and their conception of amalgam as well as the need for information on amalgam fillings was compared to that of patients with other types of tooth fillings.A significant difference in behaviour toward oral hygiene between patients with amalgam fillings and those without amalgam fillings could not be proven in this analysis. No differences between patients with and without amalgam fillings could be identified in regards to the belief that amalgam could be hazardous. This has therefore been ruled out as a cause for related symptoms. The general opinion over amalgam was found to be negative, whether patients had had amalgam fillings or not. For this reason the overall conception of amalgam arising from the patients that were studied, can be interpreted as a general anxiety toward the use of amalgam. This anxiety is present in many people today, although most do not suffer from any physical symptoms related to or arising from the use of amalgam fillings