“The Dental Amalgam Issue”

By Dr Joel Weinberg

"A terrible sin against humanity"
(Professor Richard Stock, 1926)

Ever since dentists first started installing amalgams in patient's teeth, there has been an issue as to whether mercury is released and causes health problems.

Since 1984 the American Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, through a growing number of scientific studies, has documented proof of the numerous patho-physiologic effects of dental amalgam (mercury).

Mercury

Mercury is an acute neuro-toxin and does not belong in our bodies. It is the most toxic non-radioactive element and it is being systematically removed from all health care uses. The disinfectant mercurochrome is now banned. This year legislatures in the USA have banned mercury thermometers. Mercury is the major ingredient in "silver" dental fillings (about 0.5 grams)—a colossal amount of mercury in scientific terms according to the University of California.

A person with 6 fillings has the equivalent of six mercury thermometers in his or her mouth.

The mercury in the fillings is volatile, such that poisonous vapours are constantly being emitted from the fillings. These vapours go first to the brain and the kidneys. Two major manufactures of amalgam state that amalgam is contraindicated for children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and people with kidney problems.

Impairment of kidney function, neurological behavioural problems, infertility, Alzheimer's disease and cardiac dysfunction can all be associated with the use of mercury fillings. Some practitioners have also associated its link with multiple sclerosis.

Today's solution

Today's solution is to replace existing amalgam fillings with composite (white) fillings; an aesthetically appealing and a much safer option. The amalgam fillings should be removed under a rubber dam (a safety net) that prevents inhalation and ingestion of mercury released during their removal.

The use of amalgam is being discontinued in Canada, France, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Japan.

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