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Tag: Dental amalgam

Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio focuses on improving device to remove dental waste
July 26, 2018 — Improving filtration devices that capture dental waste and keep the environment safe is the focus of a project being conducted at the Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio, located at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston... MORE

Lt. Cmdr. Nicholas Hamlin, Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio Environmental Surveillance Department head and research dentist, demonstrates how an amalgam separator is attached to a dental chair and how it works in removing amalgam waste to prevent it from going into the wastewater system. Hamlin is part of a team of NAMRU-SA researchers who are involved in a project to develop a better prototype of the amalgam separator, a cylindrical device attached to a dental chair that filters amalgam, a mixture of metals including mercury, which is used by dentists for large teeth restorations and to fill in cavities.