Sweden to ban all mercury for environmental reasons

Stockholm鈥擳he Swedish government Jan. 15 said it has decided for environmental reasons to ban use of all mercury in the country effective June 1. The ban includes dental amalgam.

Such a ban is not necessary in the United States, said the American Dental Association in a Jan. 16 statement. The ADA statement notes that U.S. dentists already capture nearly 80 percent of waste amalgam with standard equipment in their practices, and an increasing number of dentists have added the use of amalgam separators, which can increase the capture rate up to 99 percent.

Also, last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a national wastewater treatment organization joined with the ADA in signing an agreement to promote voluntary use of the ADA’s best management practices for handling amalgam waste.

The Swedish government statement says that alternative techniques will have to be used in dental care as well as chemical analysis and the chloralkali industry. The statement from Sweden does not list what those alternatives are. The ADA notes that a recent economic impact study published in the journal Public Health Reports indicates dental care costs in the U.S. would increase up to $8.2 billion in the first year alone if amalgam use was discontinued. Among other effects, this could cripple dental public health programs that serve as a safety net to millions of low-income people, the report says.

Currently, amalgam accounts for about 30 percent of dental fillings placed in the U.S. More information about amalgam, amalgam separators and restorative dental materials can be found on ADA.org in the聽Oral Health聽Topics Professional Resources area.

The Association says dental amalgam fillings have helped dentists save the teeth of more than 100 million Americans, who otherwise might have lost those teeth. Best management practices, including capturing and recycling amalgam, protect the environment, the ADA notes. Based on dentistry鈥檚 already minimal release of mercury to the environment, the approach apparently taken in Sweden is not necessary in the U.S., the ADA says.

The Swedish government also said it will dispose of the waste in other European Union countries because the Swedish market for hazardous waste is small.