What if in the process of moving from the mixing counter to you he accidently drops the amalgam onto the floor beside you.  You may think well, how clumsy, the poor guy will have to mix another "batch" of amalgam for my tooth - which he will surely do.  The dentist on the other hand is faced with an additional dilemma.  He has just been a party to a "mercury spill" which is a known hazardous material and his actions for how he will have to clean-up that spill now fall under the guidelines of the EPA(The Environmental Protection Agency), who unlike the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) fully recognize the danger of mercury.  The dentist will have to document the incident and fill out the forms required by the EPA for the spill.  He can then elect to call in a "Haznet team" to physically clean up the spill or he can decide to deal with it himself but in documenting how he has disposed of the mercury he realizes that he will be contacted by the EPA or OSHA. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Their job will be to follow up on this matter to verify that no one was injured due to the spill and confirm that the material was disposed of properly.  Do you think that your dentist will do this?  Or, do you think he may illegally wipe-up the spill with a rag and toss it in with the other trash.  This option would of course be completely illegal, unethical, as well as a fineable and jailable as has been determined by federal statute.

You may like to take a guess as to how you think your dentist may conduct himself in the situation as detailed. I think I'll just leave it at that.  Instead let me be candid about another situation.  One that occurs frequently in a dentist office.  This involves the procedure for properly disposing of mercury amalgam that may have been placed in the mouth previously. Any mercury fillings (silver filling) removed by the dentist must also be treated as a hazardous material.  Once removed from the mouth they must be placed in a special hazardous material container which is routinely picked up by a federally registered and bonded disposal service.  Ultimately the amalgam will be buried in a hole in Nevada about 3 miles deep and in a region of the state which has no known underground water source that could become contaminated with the mercury waste products as they leech thru the soil.

Knowing these very real possibilities that your dentist faces daily does shed some valuable and much need light on the mercury issue.  It also may bring you to a point in the mercury controversy where you may begin to question why mercury continues to be used in the mouth.  Mercury is dangerous to your health.   The EPA knows it. The medical profession knows it. And guess what?  In my opinion the FDA and the ADA both know it.  Yet, as a matter of policy neither have been responsible enough to finally admit that they have been wrong.  Mercury isn't safe when place in the mouth.  The mantra that continues to proport that mercury amalgam is safe doesn't pass the smell test of common sense.  It is clear that a substance that must be treated as a hazardous material before it's placed in the mouth and after it's taken out of the mouth is equally hazardous while its in the mouth. The public when given the correct and accurate information will ultimately make the necessary decisions for their own health care needs. When given all the options with the negatives and positives of each. Yes it is a shame that the institutions entrusted with the responsibility to assure public safety continue to demonstrate that they are not deserving of that trust.  Even if there was a legitimate doubt about the safety of mercury being used in the human body, these official agencies like the FDA and ADA should at least error on the side of safety by prohibiting the use of mercury until any lingering doubts can be removed.  In choosing not to they postpone the inevitable day of reckoning into the future.  That day is not too far away.  When it finally arrives the public trust in those organizations, in my opinion, will be irrevocably harmed and as a result financially crippled from a myriad of lawsuits by those who have been injured from mercury exposure of silver mercury amalgam.

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Until Then:

At this time all of the decision making regarding he use of mercury in your dental care is now in your corner. If you are sick already and can't seem to find answers that lead to an alleviation of your discomfort this decision will come easy to you. If instead you feel good about your current health status you may have a greater degree of difficulty making a decision about the use of dental mercury for both yourself and your family.  Let's explore some items that should be helpful to you in making the decision that is best for you.  There are also many other resources available to provide you with even more information on this subject should you require it.

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Your Dentist: The most logical source of information - I don't think so!

Now let's agree from the "get go" on a couple of things regarding your family dentist.  By the way this is coming from an individual that has a father-in-law who is a retired dentist of some 30 years of practice (he has his share of health problems - I wonder why) and a brother -in-law that is on the upsurge of his dental career and is in "full swing" as they say.  It goes with out saying that your dentist is a nice person and a competent practitioner.  All dentists have worked hard to get where they are today.  They preform a vital function in your overall heath and dental care.  They would never purposely harm you.  They are scientifically oriented craftsmen able to do miraculous things inside a very small space with meticulous accuracy.  They are however a bit of an oxymoron in that they are the last of the healthcare professionals to actually still handle and use mercury, a known harmful substance.  Now when you visit this friend of the family with the anticipation of having a frank discussion on the dangers of mercury amalgams you should not be surprised if you encounter a very unfriendly interaction with him.

If you really think about it ahead of time what would you really expect?  After all your dentist is more than likely the very person that put the amalgam into your teeth to begin with.  The inference that he would actually use a harmful and potentially injurious substance is too great for anyone to "own-up" to.  He has done what he was taught to do from the people and institutions that to him would never purposely allow him to act in a manner that would jeopardize the health of his patient.  You would be very surprised to know however that there really is very little dialogue on the subject of mercury toxicity in dental education.  It is in fact an unspoken topic. The dentist has been told just what you have been told - that mercury in dental amalgam is healthy and safe when it is placed in the mouth.  Any discussion on the issues raised in the previous pages of this document have not been discussed during the dental education of dental professionals.

The response that is most amusing to me is one that actually takes a higher academic plane and at least on the surface appears to embrace science as opposed to emotion.  The premise is a good one which is "if mercury is so harmful then why doesn't everybody get sick from mercury amalgam?"  Now this is a good argumentative point.  This is by the way the same argument that the ADA makes in its defense.  I am usually then inundated by hypothetical requests for double blind studies in which one group of people would get mercury silver fillings and one group would get some "placebo" product placed into the tooth.  Then we could compare the outcomes of everybody to see if more people get sick in the mercury group than get sick in the placebo group. You see, very scientific.  Then  apparently science will answer the perplexing question so that common sense could be averted.

1. Mercury is harmful.
   
   
2. There is no safe level for mercury in the body that has ever been determined.
   
   
3. The EPA, aware of this, has set acceptable exposure levels for air, water, and earth.  These are exposure levels.  They are not allowable levels for humans.
   
   
4. Mercury amalgam is the number one source of human mercury contamination not exposure from any other source.
   
   
5. Any level of mercury contamination is harmful.
   
   
6. From the moment amalgam fillings are place in the mouth mercury begins leeching out from them.  The amount of leeching is augmented by warm liquids taken by mouth, biting chewing, and grinding, of the teeth.
   
   
7. There are approximately 750mg of mercury in an average amalgam filling.  It will leech out over time.  If this amount of mercury were released in to a small lake of 10 acres the EPA would have to post it off limits for humans for the rest of the century.
   
   
8. Minute amounts of mercury will cause birth defects.  It is by virtue of this fact that even the FDA could not remain silent and has issued warnings for pregnant females to seriously limit their intake of fish.

This list of mercury information could go on and on but they and many others are found on the mercury fact sheet found at another location at this site.  The point is any mercury in the body is harmful even when the individual who is harboring the mercury is feeling well.  I refer to these patients as "the walking wounded".  I consider myself in that category and realize that although I feel fine today I won't be feeling fine forever. The mercury that leeches from my filling are being taken up by all of my tissues and organs. The price I will pay for that will be my diseases of the future.  Some other individuals are not so lucky.  They have a heightened sensitivity to mercury that affects them now and profoundly. To support this sensitivity concept are my own personal observations of these mercury afflicted.  They are sensitive to everything.  They constantly complain about smells and food and spices and you name it. Mercury is not their only sensitivity.  It is safe to say though that it is their most serious sensitivity.  It is also reassuring to note that when they are relieved of their mercury burden they improve markedly.

The academic discussion of mercury by dentists is only that - academic.  You cannot sanitize mercury.  You cannot minimize the harm that comes from it.  It must be removed from dentistry on that basis and no other.  To offer debate and study as an acceptable way to solve the mercury mystery portends that there is a mystery.  Folks there is no mystery.  Let me offer a parallel.  It is universally accepted that cyanide is deadly.  This is indisputable and an undeniable fact. If you tried to sell cyanide jewelry such as a bracelet or a necklace I think that there would be many that could wear the bracelet with little to no effect. and would continue to feel healthy.  This could not be construed that cyanide jewelry is healthy only that in ceratin individuals the toxic effects of cyanide jewelry can go unnoticed for a while.  It is safe to assume that the moment any one of these individuals were to suddenly get sick that their doctors would blame the sickness in some part to the cyanide jewelry that they were wearing.  There would be those that would become extremely ill immediately from the jewelry.  It would not be appropriate to make or sell cyanide jewelry under any circumstance by using he premise that some people can tolerate the jewelry well.  Instead you would immediately arrest anyone attempting to do so.  You can't sanitize cyanide and you can't sanitize mercury.  Both are deadly.  Whether or not you suffer from the consequences now or later.  So the argument meant to mystify mercury is illogically placed.  It is not an argument it is an absurdity

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Alternative Dental Materials

Is mercury amalgam the only material available to effectively manage dental health?  This is a question with a yes and no answer.  I have been told by many dentists that amalgam is the "ideal" dental replacement material.  It is malleable, moldable, contourable.  It holds-up in the mouth over time and can typically last 15 years or more without breaking down to a point where it would require replacement.  These comments have been universal by dentist so all toxic mercury effects aside the dental community thinks that this stuff is pretty good.  Fifteen or twenty years ago materials with comparable properties were not readily available.  Today however is a different story. There are a myriad of products available to the dentist that admittedly are not the working equivalent of amalgam but are certainly less toxic, a lot less toxic.  These so called "composite materials" continue to be added to and improved upon as time advances. At worse, they are not as durable as amalgam and will probably require replacement when the mercury product would not.

This appears to be the price to pay for the safety margin required by the public and owed to them by the dental profession. It should be mentioned that when you get down to it no dental material is really inert.  When we replace mercury amalgam fillings in our center we submit a blood sample to the lab so that compatibility studies can be conducted to determine the best replacement material for that specific patient.  In almost every case the patient does show some degree of immunologic incompatibility.  We therefore have to choose the most compatible material and rarely if ever find a material that is completely inert.

In the case of mercury amalgam we are truly talking about a toxic material which can accumulate in the body over time. The accumulation of the material leads to gradual and steady deterioration of the health status of the individual.  Toxic substances like mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic should never be used in the body for any reason and most assuredly not as a filling material in the teeth.  Toxic materials are never inconsequential there is always a price to pay for their presence in the body even though the price can be payed more rapidly in some and more delayed in others.

Compatibility is much different than toxic.  Compatibility is conferred on a substance based on its ability to provoke and immunological reaction with the formation of antibodies which attempt to attack the substance and the tissues within which it resides.  When a substance is highly reactive or incompatible in an individual is should not be utilized as a replacement material.  This however does not preclude that same substance from being used in another individual without harm.  Without testing it is impossible to know which materials would or would not be compatible for a patient.  The important way to conclude this issue is to make you aware that this type of testing is available and in sensitive patients it would be wise to utilize the testing as a basis for making replacement material decisions.

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Insurance Reimbursement

Another very real obstacle to safe dentistry has to do with insurance plans which have grown to become a part of health care coverage that is bought through group plans attached to a patients job. Most insurance plans only cover mercury amalgam fillings as a replacement material and for this reason don't even mention the option of composite materials.  There is not a great difference in cost between the two but there is a difference.  It would be beneficial for you to discuss the use of "white fillings" instead of "silver" ones with your dentist and your preference for the former. You could also consider a rider to your existing plan when that is possible.  The fact of the matter is that once you have decided that mercury amalgam is a health hazard that you want to avoid you will arrange for the safer material to be placed by whatever means that is necessary even if that means that you will have to pay a little more for composites

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Legislation to the rescue

It cannot be estimated as to how long it will take for dentistry , the ADA and the FDA to catch up to their responsibility to assure safe dentistry by banning the use of mercury.  It can only be said that the movement toward healthy dentistry is growing. An aware public will ultimately demand that it will happen.  It begins with you insisting that only safe materials be used for you and the other members of your family.  It also has begun by citizens who have identified mercury hazards petitiong their representatives to circumvent the dental community rather than waiting for it to see the light of day on its own.  Four states currently have passed laws that regulate how mercury amalgam is to be used in their states.  California, Maine, and Arizona all utilize an informed consent procedure which compels the dentist to make his patients aware that he uses hazardous materials in his practice.  The patient must then sign an informed consent recognizing that he has been made aware of this and that after being informed of this he then gives consent to have mercury amalgam placed in his mouth.  As you can imagine dentists do not like this intrusion into their private practice but  they had better get used to it.  Once the genie is out of the bottle, and believe me he's out, you can't expect to ever put him back in there again.

State legislation although promising is a slow process and has to be done over and over 50 different times. In October of 2001 Diane Watson a democratic legislator from California was able to introduce a bill in the U.S. Congress that effectively phases out the use of all mercury amalgam in dentistry by the year 2005.  Now this bill if it passes it will do the job of 50 different state legislatures all in one stroke and effectively removes the FDA and ADA from the equation.  It's sad to think that it should have to come to this. The public must be protected and waiting around for the appropriate organizations and agencies to do so has proven futile

1. Get educated.  Read more on the subject through the work of Dr. Hal Huggins a pioneer in the field of safe dentistry.  Two of his books in particular are "must reads".  The first is "It's All In Your Head" and in depth look at the link between mercury toxicity and many of the common diseases and symptom complexes that can be provoked by it. His other book "Uninformed Consent" is equally informative concerning the dental profession and the role it has played in promoting disease by the practices and protocols it operates by.

2. If you are not ill, a rational approach to future dental needs should be developed.
   
   
3. You should insist that mercury amalgam should not be used by your dentist for your personal interventions as well as those of all the other members of your family.
   
   
4. Mercury free dentistry should be demanded with respect to your children.
   
   
5. If you are ill or suffer form unexplained symptoms you may want to consider the safe removal of your current mercury amalgam fillings and replacement with a compatible dental material.
   
   
6. Dental revision for the safe removal of mercury amalgam is extremely delicate work and should only be done by a dentist specifically trained to conduct such revision.  A listing of dentists in your area is available in our office.
   
   
7. Become familiar with the "Huggins Protocol".  Here you will find the correct procedure for dental revision.  You will have to become well versed in all of its provisions.  By familiarizing yourself with this protocol you will easily be able to determine which dental professionals have the skill to do this job properly.

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