Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32810306›Full record

ArticleJournal of oral rehabilitation2020

Removal of dental amalgam restorations in patients with health complaints attributed to amalgam: A prospective cohort study.

Lars Björkman, Frauke Musial, Terje Alraek, Erik L Werner, Wolfgang Weidenhammer, Harald J Hamre

Registry-linked trialOpen access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of oral rehabilitation, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01682278 (Amalgam Removal in Patients With Health Complaints Attributed to Amalgam Restorations), which is not on this map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 34% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT01682278 completednot on this map

Amalgam Removal in Patients With Health Complaints Attributed to Amalgam Restorations: A Prospective Cohort Study

TypeobservationalSponsorNORCE Norwegian Research Centre ASRan2012 to 2021Enrolled118ConditionsHealth Complaints Attributed to Dental Amalgam RestorationsArmsRemoval of dental amalgam restorations
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Lars BjörkmanDental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS, Bergen, Norway.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3663-530X
Frauke MusialDepartment of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, The National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Terje AlraekDepartment of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, The National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Erik L WernerResearch Unit for General Practice, Uni Research Health Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Wolfgang WeidenhammerMozartring 13, Dorfen, Germany.
Harald J HamreInstitute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology, University of Witten/Herdecke, Freiburg, Germany.
UiT The Arctic University of Norway · NODornier Flugzeugwerke (Germany) · DENORCE Research AS · NOUniversity of Oslo · NOWitten/Herdecke University · DE

Funding

Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services initiated a project including experimental treatment for patients with health complaints attributed to amalgam restorations.

objectiveThe aim was to evaluate changes of general health complaints in patients who participated in the project and had all amalgam restorations removed.

methodsThe project was designed as a prospective cohort study and organised by the Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit in Bergen, Norway. The dental treatment was provided by the patient's local dentist. The main target group consisted of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms, attributed to dental amalgam restorations (Amalgam cohort). The primary comparison group consisted of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms without attribution to dental amalgam restorations (MUPS cohort). Primary outcome was self-reported general health complaints (GHC index) at follow-up 12-months after completed amalgam removal.

resultsIn the Amalgam cohort, a significant reduction of GHC index from 43.3 (SD 17.8) at baseline to 30.5 (SD 14.4) at follow-up (mean reduction 12.8, SD 15.9; n = 32; P < .001) was observed. The change scores for GHC index indicated that the reduction of complaints was significantly higher (P = .004) in the Amalgam cohort compared with the MUPS cohort (mean reduction 1.2, SD 12.3, n = 28). After adjustment for age, gender, education and baseline GHC index, the mean adjusted difference was -8.0 (95% confidence interval from -15.4 to -0.5; P = .036).

conclusionIn a group of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms, which they attributed to dental amalgam restorations, removal of amalgam restorations was followed by a significant reduction of health complaints.

Indexed as

Dental AmalgamDental Restoration, PermanentCohort StudiesHealthHumansProspective StudiesDental Amalgamdental amalgamdental caredental materialshumansprospective studiessubjective health complaint

Identifiers

PMID32810306
OpenAlexW3080593569

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.