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Fourty‐three patients with oral mucosal lesions were divided into 3 groups based on the relationship between lesions and amalgam restorations. Group I consisted of patients with contact lesions confined to mucosal areas in contact with amalgam fillings. Group II patients had lichen planus lesions exceeding the area of contact with an amalgam filling and Group III comprised patients with lichen planus lesions without relation to amalgam fillings. Biopsies were embedded in epon and subjected to autometallography in order to demonstrate a possible accumulation of mercury in the affected mucosa. In 20 our of 21 patients in Group I, 4 of 11 patients in Group II and 4 of 11 patients in Group III, mercury was found in the lysosomes of macrophages and fibroblasts. In Group I the number of celles loaded with mercury was much higher than in Group II and in particular Group III. In the latter groups autometallographically …