title: Patients' experiences of changes in health complaints before, during, and after removal of dental amalgam.
abstract: In this article, we explore how patients with health complaints attributed to dental amalgam experienced and gave meaning to changes in health complaints before, during, and after removal of all amalgam fillings. We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with 12 participants from the treatment group in a Norwegian amalgam removal trial. Interviews took place within a couple months of the final follow-up 5 years after amalgam removal. Using the NVivo9 software, we conducted an explorative and reflective thematic analysis and identified the following themes: Something is not working: betrayed by the body, You are out there on your own, Not being sure of the importance of amalgam removal, The relief experienced after amalgam removal, and To accept, to give up, or to continue the search. We discuss the findings in the context of patients' assigning meaning to illness experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; therese.sjursen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Therese T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Sjursen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Per-Einar
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Binder
authors.affiliation: Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Gunvor B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Lygre
authors.affiliation: Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Vigdis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Helland
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dalen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.|Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit, Uni Research, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Björkman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003723:Dental Amalgam / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003723:Dental Amalgam
keywords: Health; assigning meaning; dental amalgam; health seeking; illness experiences; reflexivity; thematic analysis