Abstract —Blood samples from a group of 130 dentists and a control group of 40 blood‐donors were analyzed by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry in order to evaluate the extent of mercury exposure. The median blood concentration of mercury was 4.0 (range: 1.2–19.2) μg/1 for dentists and 2.0 (1.1–4.6) μg/1 for controls (2P<0.01). Practice characteristics obtained in a questionnaire showed no statistically significant relationship to blood mercury, but 49 dentists having one or more fish meals per wk, had a median concentration of mercury, which was 47% higher than dentists seldomly consuming fish (2P<0.01). It was concluded that none of the examined dentists had blood concentrations above the level (35 μg Hg/1) associated with the hygienic thres