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The science behind the
Amalgam controversy
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| It has been well established that mercury
from dental amalgams that has been ingested into the stomach is poorly absorbed
through the digestive system and is not an important factor in raising the serum
mercury level. The vast majority of elemental mercury that shows up in the
bloodstream is from mercury vapor which is absorbed through the lungs.
The amount of mercury actually absorbed via both
routes is so small that it has no practical toxic
effect on the human body. |
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As you read further in this essay, you will see why this
is the case.
Low levels of mercury have been with the human race since it first evolved,
and our bodies have developed the ability to excrete small amounts easily.
Modern studies have shown that the amount of mercury absorbed by a person with a
mouth full of amalgam fillings is WELL below the amount necessary to have toxic
effects. In fact, numerous studies
have shown that the amount of mercury actually released by amalgam fillings is
insignificant when compared to the amount consumed in numerous types
of food, especially ocean caught fish. Even though fish contains
much more absorbable mercury (in the form of methyl mercury which IS well
absorbed in the gut), it takes a lot of fish eaten over a long time to bring
serum mercury levels into the range where toxic effects are seen. Even
populations of Pacific island dwellers which regularly
eat a lot of fish and have serum mercury levels in excess of ten times that of
the average North American, do not exhibit any ill effects from the mercury
constantly in their bloodstream.
| NOTE: Google advertisements are placed on web
pages by bots which assess content based on key words.
This page attracts some ads which link to sites selling
"detoxification" medications and services, most of which
make many of the claims which I have debunked here. I
allow this type of advertisement so readers can see some of
the nonsense they sell. |
Many population studies have been done which refute the claims of the
anti-amalgamists. The following are just six examples:
- In one study, dentists with abnormally high
concentrations of urinary mercury, attributable to their occupational
exposure, showed no evidence of kidney impairment on several key
measurements of renal function.
- Another study examined claims that dental amalgam
interferes with immune function. The researchers found that subjects
with dental fillings had the same number of disease fighting white blood
cells as people who were amalgam-free.
- A Swedish researcher found no differences between
amalgam and non-amalgam groups in measures used to assess immune system
health, liver and kidney function, and skeletal muscle status.
- A Swedish study of 1024 women looked at the
prevalence of 30 symptoms often claimed to reflect toxic effects of amalgam,
including fatigue, dizziness, irritability, and back pain. Women with
more than 20 amalgam fillings were no more likely to complain of these
symptoms than women with few or no amalgams.
- Another Swedish study examined mercury serum
levels in a population of 1462 women in order to correlate their serum mercury
levels (from all sources including diet) to the vague symptoms often claimed
to be due to mercury intoxication from amalgam. The study correlated
serum mercury levels with the incidence of dizziness,
eye complaints, hearing defects,
headache,
general fatigue,
sleep disturbances and 25 other symptoms over a period of 25
years. This study found NO correlation between serum levels of
mercury and the 31 symptoms studied. (Note: In Sweden, serum mercury
levels tend to be much higher than those found in North America or other
non-Scandinavian parts of Europe because Scandinavians are more likely to
eat large amounts of ocean caught fish which
increases serum mercury levels much more than mercury from amalgam
fillings.)
| I found this study so interesting that I have translated it into
plain English so that it could be presented here, as page 7 of this
report,
to persons without a scientific background.
Click HERE to read this study. |
-
A study of 30,000 female dental
assistants and the wives of 29,000 dentists, divided into high and low
mercury exposure groups found no difference between the two groups in
the incidence of miscarriage or of birth defects in their offspring.
-
Standards set by the US Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimate the mercury-vapor
concentration to which even the most sensitive workers can be
chronically exposed without suffering adverse effects. Under
OSHA guidelines, the maximum safe occupational dose approximates roughly
300 to 500 micrograms of mercury vapor per day. Current
estimates predict that people with a moderate to large number of
fillings are exposed to 1 to 4 micrograms of mercury vapor per day, barely 1%
of the dose considered safe by the US government.
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Beware! The miraculous cures reported by
the anti-amalgamists of
patients who have had their amalgam fillings removed are of the psychosomatic
variety and are NOT permanent! You will NOT solve your health
problems by replacing the perfectly good amalgam fillings in your teeth!
- On the
contrary, you WILL end up needing at least a few
(and probably many)
root canals
and crowns!
- The replacement of fillings always
entails some stress to the nerve of the tooth, and each time a filling is
replaced, there is a distinct chance that the nerve will become inflamed (hot
and painful) which will necessitate immediate emergency treatment.
- If you
cannot afford the cost of a root canal and a crown, then the less expensive
alternative is extraction. The cost of
keeping your teeth under these circumstances can become prohibitive!
The following anecdote is a true story.
| An Iowa dentist was barred from practice for five years for
advising a woman with multiple sclerosis to have her amalgams
removed. Unable to pay $9000 (this was in the mid 1980's when
this type of dental work was much less expensive), the woman had all
her teeth extracted and replaced with dentures. A month later
her illness worsened and she was hospitalized. Her
successful lawsuit against the dentist prompted the state dental
board to suspend the dentist's license to practice. Cases like
this are ongoing in dentistry, and you can look up the actual
litigation for fourteen of them (dates and names of defendants
included) by clicking
here. |
What the government and mainstream
organizations have to say about mercury and amalgam
As of June 2008, lawsuits from several antiamalgam
organizations have forced the US Food an Drug Administration
(the FDA) to change its position on dental amalgam.
The websites for the FDA and also other US government
organizations have been modified to reflect this change.
This is indeed unfortunate, since no scientific evidence has
arisen to suggest that anyone over the course of the
last century has ever been harmed in any way by the use of
dental amalgam. The change was forced by theoretical
issues which have always existed concerning the issue of
mercury toxicity. The issue of mercury toxicity is the
point of this essay. Scientifically, there is still no
reason to hedge about the use of dental amalgam, but
LEGALLY, it is always possible to find technicalities which
can be used to force changes in public policy, even if those
changes are ultimately damaging to the public at large.
To see the new policies of the governmental organizations, please take the time to review the following
US governmental statements on this subject: the
Food and
Drug Administration
(FDA) statement on dental amalgam and the US
department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) group statement on dental amalgams
The safety of dental amalgam has
been endorsed by the Arthritis Foundation, The
multiple Sclerosis Society, The
American dental Association, The
World health organization, and the magazine and organization "Consumer
Reports".
For those who want virtually all the government statistics on mercury in
amalgam, (and are gluttons for punishment) please see the US Public Health
service website at the following link:
Dental Amalgam:
A Scientific Review and Recommended Public
Health Service Strategy for Research, Education and Regulation.
Other references
In order to make more mainstream information available to
the general public I offer a separate page as a bibliography of statements and
press releases from established scientific organizations. Some of the
references have links associated with them. Others are references which
can be obtained by writing, phoning or emailing the organization cited and
requesting the material. Click
here to go to this page.
| It is most important to remember that there is no known statistical difference in
the health status of persons with amalgam fillings compared to those with no
fillings in their teeth! |
In fact, metallic (elemental) mercury
especially when bound in a solid matrix as it is in dental amalgam, is not especially toxic because it is
not well absorbed through
the digestive tract, and while the major source of absorbed mercury
from amalgam fillings is from mercury vapor,
the amount of mercury vapor
released from amalgam fillings is relatively small. There is no evidence that the
extremely small amounts of mercury that may be released into the mouth from
dental fillings presents any danger of mercury poisoning. The mercury
that is swallowed and inhaled is easily excreted from the body through the kidneys.
Studies show that the average daily intake
of mercury from ordinary food and water is between 4 and 15 times the amount that is
ingested due to the presence of a mouthful of dental amalgam restorations.
Next page
(What the textbooks say about the safety of dental amalgam)==>
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