The Relationship between Mercury Exposure and Psychological Health Status of Dentists

Background/objective: this study was undertaken to addresspsychological health effects of dentists’ exposure to low ambientlevels of mercury.methods: one hundred and six dentists and 94 generalpractitioners were randomly selected from clinics in shiraz city,iran. subjects were asked to complete the persian version ofgeneral health questionnaire. the data were analyzed using?2 test, independent sample t-test and mann-whitney’s u test.results: both groups were similar as far as all demographicvariables, except age, were concerned. no significant differencewas noted between the dentists’ mean total score of ghq-28 (17.9)and that of referent subjects (16.34). these scores were significantlylower than the cut-off point of 23 (p < 0.01). the mean scores forsomatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, and depression weresignificantly higher in dentists than in the referent subjects. theresults also showed a significant association between ghq-28total scores and length of exposure to mercury (p=0.034); withincrease in the job tenure, ghq-28 total score also increased,indicating a decrement in psychological health status.conclusion: the current findings revealed that, in general,the dentists’ psychological health status was poorer than thereferent subjects. additionally, in all ghq subscales, thedentists’ scores were significantly different from those of theircounterparts. given the fact that exposure to mercury is the mostimportant differentiating variable between both groups, and thatneuropsychological disorders are the most common toxic effectof mercury, the difference between psychological health statusof the two groups is likely to be related to exposure to mercury.