Dental Amalgams and
Mercury Poisoning.

I’ve recently finished a course of dental treatment that involved a total of five hours in the chair and ten fillings.  Not the sort of thing that normally brings a smile to the face, I think you’ll agree! 

However, the reason for my satisfaction is that I have finally done something about a subject which has been nagging at me for quite some time now: I’ve had all my old amalgam fillings replaced with composites.

A ‘white’ composite filling is made of hard plastic or ceramic that requires less drilling and preserves more of the healthy tooth.  It is also bonded to the tooth so there is much less chance (unlike metal amalgams) that bacteria will find its way under the filling and cause further decay or infection. 

Ok, I’ll put my hands up and admit that a certain amount of vanity was involved in this decision - let’s face it, who wants to flash a mouthful of blackening metal every time you smile - but the main reason I went through all this was that I wanted to get rid of the not inconsiderable amount of mercury that’s been in my head since I was a lad. 

My dentist estimated that he would have removed about six or seven grams of amalgam.  That amount of pure mercury taken internally would be enough to kill you! 

However, before you start to panic you have to understand that dental amalgam is not pure mercury, it is an alloy consisting also of silver, tin, copper and zinc.  But in the US, 54% of it is mercury.  Research has found that this may be a cause of serious health problems, including cancer.

A World Health Organisation report in 1991 stated that of the five main sources of mercury in humans (air, fish, non-fish food, drinking water and amalgam), mercury vapour from dental amalgams accounted for up to five times the amount of the other four put together.

Here is an extract from a website written by a leading US dentist: 

“Mercury is a known poison.  It is, in fact, one of - if not the - most toxic of all the elements known!  It is fact that mercury is fully one-half of the mass of the filling you see when you look at any ‘silver’ filling.  It is fact that mercury vaporizes in the mouth and that the vapor is inhaled and also directly absorbed into the body.”  

At this point I must state quite catagorically that I have no professional qualifications, nor do I hold any position that entitles me to advise people on dental health matters.  

But I can read, reason and formulate my own opinions, and my opinion is this:  Compared to modern composites, amalgam is straight out of the Ark!

So how is it possible, in this environmentally-conscious world of nannying, health warnings and food scares, that dentists are still allowed to fill our mouths with a highly toxic poison? 

Could it be, by any chance, anything to do with the enormous litigation and rectification costs involved if the dental profession admitted the dangers?  If so does that really justify the risks to mind and body?  Or are they seriously saying that there is no risk? 

In the course of my research I came across opinion that argued that amalgams are perfectly safe and that one should not worry about the continued use of them.  Fair enough, but you won’t mind if I don’t hold my breath until they prove it, will you? 

It will be a long time before they can convince me that I should not worry about filling my head with a substance which prompted another US dentist to comment: 

"Somehow I just don't feel comfortable using a substance designated by the EPA to be a waste disposal hazard.  I can't (legally) throw it in the trash, bury it in the ground, or put it in a landfill, but they say it's OK to put it in people's mouths.  That just doesn't make sense."  

I think his last simple sentence sums up the whole subject quite nicely, don’t you?

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Steve Drakeford is a health and lifestyle writer, originally from the UK but now based in the US. He is the author and webmaster of Allergic to Living and is passionate about the rubbish we eat and what we can do to protect ourselves from the ever-increasing chemicals that invade our bodies. .

 

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