Oral bacteria resistant to mercury and to antibiotics are present in children with no previous exposure to amalgam restorative materials.
Dental plaque from 76 children without amalgam restorations was screened for bacteria resistant to mercuric chloride. Seventy-one per cent of the children harboured mercury-resistant oral bacteria and the median percentage of the total oral microflora resistant to mercuric chloride was 0.007% (range 0-5.3%). Eighty-seven mercury-resistant bacteria were isolated and 86% of these were streptococci with Streptococcus mitis predominating. Sixty per cent of the mercury-resistant isolates were also resistant to at least one of the four antibiotics tested (penicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline) with resistance to tetracycline (40% of isolates) most frequently encountered.
Ready
Derren
D
Eastman Dental Hospital, University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, 256 Gray's Inn Road, WC1X 8LD, London, UK. dready@eastman.ucl.ac.uk
Qureshi
Fizza
F
Bedi
Raman
R
Mullany
Peter
P
Wilson
Michael
M
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003723:Dental Amalgam; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008627:Mercuric Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013754:Tetracyclines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D034363:Viridans Streptococci / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004202:Disinfectants; D013754:Tetracyclines; D008627:Mercuric Chloride; D004917:Erythromycin; D003723:Dental Amalgam; D013752:Tetracycline