The ban was based on research demonstrating that the risks to dental patients' health and the risks to the environment were too great.

In February 1992, the German Federal Department of Health banned the sale and manufacture of one type of amalgam because of the health risks from mercury. A second type was restricted a short time later. In December 1993, the largest manufacturer of dental amalgam in Germany discontinued production of amalgam. In 1994, the German Federal Department of Health advised against using amalgam in all women of childbearing age. Later that year, the German Federal Registry of Dentists requested that amalgam be banned.