Dr. George: Mercury-Laced Fillings May Pose Danger to Unsuspecting Patients (part 1 of 2)

Dear Dr. Meinig:

I have been hearing a lot about silver fillings releasing mercury and poisoning people. I don’t believe you have written about this. Would you give us your comments? – D.C.

 

Dear D.C.:

Yes, I did write about the problem in a column that appeared in November of 1988. Inasmuch as many more cases have now been documented and “60 Minutes” covered the subject, I feel it is timely to write about It again.

It is possible that people who have a long-term history of depression, headaches, suicidal tendencies, M.S., allergies, candida, lupus, arthritis, some forms of cancer or illnesses that defy diagnostic efforts could, if they have numbers of silver fillings, be suffering from the mercury they release.

When dentists make an amalgam, they mix silver powder that contains small amounts of copper, tin and zinc with mercury. The mix is 50 per cent mercury and 50 per cent of silver powder. Dentists for years were taught that when these elements are mixed together, a new metal is formed that is stable and inert. This teaching is now known to be incorrect, that over a period of time these hard, silver fillings lose some of their mercury.

Should you disbelieve mercury can evaporate from them, the amount lost is now easily determined by a number of methods. The first of these tests should have been done long ago. Quite simply, numbers of extracted teeth that contain fillings are collected and the amount of mercury they have remaining is determined. We know that when the mix was made up by the dentist the amalgam contained 50 per cent mercury. This analysis showed the loss from old fillings averaged out to be 25 to 30 percent.

In view of the long known toxicity of mercury, it is amazing that this simple test was not conducted by the research division of the American Dental Association (A.D.A.) many, many years ago.

The important question the study provokes is…where did the lost mercury go? That it gradually vaporizes out of these fillings into the mouth on a daily basis has been determined. The amount lost from the silver fillings increases materially by the act of chewing food, gum, clenching teeth together, etc. These amounts can now be measured by special instruments.

A patient with eight to nine amalgams loses 20 micrograms of mercury from the fillings. If a person has 20 amalgams, the losses are 46.60 micrograms. Of that amount, 18 micrograms go into the stomach, some is absorbed by the tissues of the mouth and under the tongue as is digitalis used by heart patients, some is inhaled and absorbed by lungs and some escapes from the mouth into the air. The amount of mercury coming from those who have 13 amalgams exceeds the toxic limits set up by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.).

The A.D.A still claims it is safe to use amalgam fillings except for those few who are allergic to them. They do admit one percent of our people are allergic to mercury. Well, that few is 2.5 million American people. Though the amounts inhaled each moment are small, the accumulative effect of the 20,000 inhalations we make each day are proving to be responsible for many difficulties other than allergy.

Research has showed that immune system functions can be compromised by mercury. When the immune system is battered by these tiny amounts, the stress of the gradual build-up can be sufficient for it to limit the ability of some people to fight off a wide variety of illnesses.

Another problem of interest: the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, “OSHA,” along with the A.D.A now has stringent rules dentists and their assistants must follow when handling amalgam material. They are forbidden to touch it with fingers (we formerly mulled it in the palm of our hand), must use rubber gloves, use instruments to dispense it into the tooth, and the leftover scrap must be kept in glass jars, each inch of which, as it accumulates, must be covered with an inch of glycerin and the cap tightly closed to prevent what evaporates from contaminating the office. But the A.D.A still claims it is perfectly safe to put into teeth.

This article will be continued next week with more about the statements made by the A.D.A. about electric shocks that occur between fillings, and the strict protocol that must be followed when ill patients have their amalgams replaced.