Amalgam Tattoo of Oral Mucosa

Cutaneous amalgam tattoo in a dental professional: an unreported occupational argyria

“…The particles are easily seen in haematoxylin and eosin routine preparations, dispersed among the collagen fibres, and painting the basal membrane and the perineurial and perivascular tissues. The inflammatory reaction is variable: usually only a few inflammatory cells are found, but in some cases it can be more intense and eventually areas of foreign body granuloma with giant cells can be seen 1–3 . Amalgam tattoo of the oral mucosa showed similar histology, ultrastructural aspects and chemical composition as the skin lesion here described, helping to confirm and better to illustrate the present case.…”

“…Histologically it shows brown to black aggregates of granules interspersed among collagen fibres and around blood vessels. Most cases show a slight inflammatory response, and eventually a foreign body granulomatous reaction is found 1–4 . Cases of cutaneous localized argyria are uncommon, and are usually attributed to trauma, acupuncture, topical silver‐based medication or use of pieces of jewellery such as earrings 5–7 .…”

“…Amalgam tattoo of the oral mucosa showed similar histology, ultrastructural aspects and chemical composition as the skin lesion here described, helping to confirm and better to illustrate the present case. The main elements in dental amalgam are silver and mercury, but other minor constituents can be present such as copper, zinc and tin in various proportions 3 . When in the tissues, mercury and other elements such as tin decrease progressively with time, while silver is kept in a complex with sulphur derived from cellular enzymes.…”

Electron Microscopic X‐ray Microanalysis of Metals Deposited in Oral Mucosa

“…Moreover, silver in argyria reportedly does not deposit on the basal lamina beneath the epidermis (6,7). These data support the idea that the patient under study indeed had the so-called amalgam tattoo in her buccal mucosa (8)(9)(10). Gingival (not buccal mucosa) discoloration ?y silver alloys has been recognized and well Investigated by dentists for many years (11)(12)(13).…”

Wooden Foreign Body Embedded in the Zygomatic Region for 2 Years

“…Most of the impacted foreign bodies are inorganic in nature with amalgam tattoo as the most common [2,3]. Usually impacted foreign bodies are small in size and relatively inert in nature, thus, eliciting a very limited or no inflammatory response [4].…”