Dental amalgam controversy from the WHO concluded that dental amalgam contributes significantly to mercury body burden in humans with amalgam fillings and that dental amalgam is the most common form of exposure to elemental mercury in the general population, constituting a potentially significant source of exposure to elemental mercury. Estimates of daily intake from amalgam restorations range from 1 to 12.5 μg/day, with the majority of dental amalgam holders being exposed to less than 5 μg mercury/day. They also note that this will continue to decline as the number of amalgam restorations is declining. As public pressure demands more research on amalgam safety,
Amalgam tattoo from pencil leads), and is sometimes termed a "graphite tattoo", although this is less common than tattooing with amalgam. The diagnosis is clinical. Amalgam tattoo can be distinguished from other causes of localized oral pigmentation because it does not change significantly in size or color, although it may appear to slowly enlarge for several months after the initial implantation of the metal particles. Some amalgam tattoos appear radio-opaque on radiographs (i.e. they show up on x-rays), although in many cases amalgam tattoos have no radiographic features since the responsible particle(s) of amalgam are very small even though clinically the area