Health Minute: Dental Filling Dangers
Most common symptom
Health Minute Audio Summary:
Over 100 million Americans have mercury amalgam dental fillings. Though most think of these as “silver” dental fillings, in reality they are 50% mercury and only about 30% silver, with smaller amounts of copper, tin and zinc. Mercury amalgams were introduced into dentistry in 1819 in England, and soon after in France, since they were a cheaper substitute for gold. Though the effects of mercury poisoning were well known at the time, they were overlooked in favor of mercury’s amazing ability to combine with other metals and durably bond to the tooth.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
For many years the ADA maintained that mercury did not escape from the amalgam fillings. That view began to change in 1981 when Dr. C. W. Svare reported his study in The Journal of the American Dental Association showing that mercury vapor definitely does penetrate the saliva covering the teeth. The April 1994 issue of JADA states:
“Dental amalgam can release minute amounts of elemental mercury, a heavy metal whose toxicity at high exposure levels is well established.”
Prosthodontist Dr. David Eggleston notes various studies proving mercury amalgam does accumulate in the blood, breath, kidney and brain. He studied 83 age-matched cadavers from the Los Angeles morgue and found three times the level of mercury in the brains of those with mercury fillings as in those without. The only question is whether those levels are high enough to produce mercury poisoning.
Among the most interesting research proving that mercury definitely escapes from your dental amalgams, is that done in Sweden by corrosion chemist, Jaro Pleva, Ph.D. Using a scanning electron microscope Dr. Pleva found that a five year-old amalgam filling contained only 27% mercury, as compared with its original content of 50%. Therefore, nearly one-half the mercury escaped the filling going into the body of the patient!
METHYL MERCURY PROBLEMS
While elemental mercury is dangerous, methyl mercury is 100 times more toxic to the nervous system and 1000 times more toxic in producing genetic damage. Bacterial action in the mouth from Streptococcus mutans, a common bacteria in the mouth believed to cause dental decay, can react with amalgam fillings producing methyl mercury. Perhaps more significantly, this “methylating” of mercury from dental fillings appears to “program” the body to hang on to mercury from other sources, such as seafood, paint, cosmetics, and other environmental sources.
YOUR MOUTH—THE ONLY SAFE PLACE?
Government agencies like OSHA and EPA regard mercury as toxic in the dental office both before it’s placed in a patient’s mouth and after it’s removed from a patient’s mouth. For example, if OSHA detected readings of more than 50 mcg/M3 of mercury in a dental office, they would close the office immediately and levy a $10,000 fine. After removal, strict disposal procedures must be followed to keep from violating environmental laws. So mercury is toxic before it’s in your mouth and after it’s removed from your mouth. The ADA wants you to believe that the only safe place for mercury is in your mouth! If that makes sense to you, I’d like to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
