[quote=Alpaca]Linda, you have given me food for thought. However, isn't the mercury in amalgam meant to combine with the other minerals and thus become inactive?????

That's what "they" want you to believe... But if you go back to the link somewhere above us (the article that says amalgam's safe) you'll read that even they admit to a small ammount of leaching.

I see that your flap was taken from your wrist too. Has your wrist recovered fully yet? Mine is still too weak to play the autoharp, which I enjoy. I'm just wondering how long it will be - if ever. I don't have enough strength to hold the chord bars down.

Next time I have a check up I'll ask my doctor what he thinks of my lichen planus background - he's a surgeon so won't be all that interested but I'll see if he can point me to material that can help me find out. [/quote]

I followed an Oral Lichen Planus group/list for several years from Baylor University. http://www.tambcd.edu/outreach/lichen/
You will likely get more info there, in my opinion. In my case, I think the OLP was a mis-diagnosis.