Bates, Michael N · International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2006 · DOI
This review examined whether mercury from dental fillings causes chronic health problems, including chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers looked at many studies on this topic and found little scientific evidence that amalgam fillings cause general chronic diseases, fatigue, or other common illnesses in the general population.
For ME/CFS patients, this systematic review provides evidence that mercury from dental fillings is not a likely cause of ME/CFS or related symptom complexes. This helps clarify environmental exposure concerns that some ME/CFS patients and advocates have raised, allowing research and clinical focus to remain on more promising etiologic factors.
This review does not prove that mercury exposure is completely harmless to all individuals or populations—only that available epidemiologic evidence does not support dental amalgams as a cause of chronic fatigue syndrome or general chronic diseases. The absence of evidence in published studies does not exclude the possibility that a small, highly susceptible subgroup might experience adverse effects. Individual case reports or anecdotal experiences are not systematically evaluated in this epidemiologic review.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Bates, Michael N (2006). Mercury amalgam dental fillings: an epidemiologic assessment.. International journal of hygiene and environmental health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2005.11.006
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-bates-2006-mercury-amalgam,
author = {Bates, Michael N},
title = {Mercury amalgam dental fillings: an epidemiologic assessment.},
journal = {International journal of hygiene and environmental health},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijheh.2005.11.006},
note = {PubMed: 16448848},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bates-2006-mercury-amalgam},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bates-2006-mercury-amalgam
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