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IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT MERCURY
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l. Mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive element on earth.
"One atom of mercury is poisonous to your body. That’s right, just one atom!" - Dr. Tom McGuire DDS10 "The Poison in Your Teeth"
1. A silver colored mercury amalgam filling normally contains
52% mercury.
l On average, an amalgam filling weighs 1 gram and contains
½ gram of mercury.
l The typical adult carries ten amalgam fillings containing
about 5 grams of mercury.
l ½ gram of mercury in a ten acre lake would warrant
issuance of a fish advisory for the lake.
l Running shoes with mercury lights in their heels were banned
by the Minnesota Legislature in 1994 because they contained
a ½ gram of mercury in them and this was considered dangerous
to public health.
l The use of mercury amalgams has been banned and are on a scheduled
phaseout in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden.
l A proposition passed in California in 1994 requires a warning
in dental offices using mercury amalgam stating that "the
people of the state of California have determined that the use
of mercury in dental amalgam causes birth defects and other
health problems." The proposition also requires that permission
must be obtained from a patient before placing hazardous material
in the mouth. (The new law is being contested by the ADA and
California Dental Association, and is tied up in Federal Court).
l Legislation is now being proposed in Minnesota for a similar "Informed Consent" legislation for all dental patients.
Far-Infrared Cellular Purification
l Detoxifies heavy metals including mercury, lead, cadmium,
and aluminum.
l Detoxifies arsenic, formaldehyde, pesticides, agent orange,
industrial chemicals, and gasoline.
l Detoxifies alcohol, nicotine, heroine, and prescription drugs.
l Purifies the body on a cellular level.
Autoimmune Disorders
The diagnostic arena now occupied by autoimmune disorders provides
us with terms that could best be described as "alphabet
soup." Such problems include RA (Rheumatoid Athritis),
HT (Hasimoto's Thyroiditis), HAD (Human Adjuvant Disease), MS
(Multiple Sclerosis), ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or,
more commonly, Lou Gehrig's disease) and MCTD (mixed connective
tissue disease).
Should we now add MT (Mercury Toxicity)?
These conditions plus others, such as Crohn's Disease, Raynauds's
Disease, Systemic Candidiasis, Diabetes, and even Alzheimer's
Disease are now believed by many to be autoimmune disorders.
· When patients are afflicted with such disorders, they
come into their physician's office with all, or some, of these
symptoms:
• Generalized morning stiffness
• Skin rashes
• Dry eyes and mouth
• Joint pain
• Immune dysfunction
• Axillary lymph node swelling
• Subcutaneous nodules (skin bumps)
• Neurological symptoms (ringing in ears, burning and
numbness sensations
• Chronic fatigue
• Depression and/or environmental sensitivities
The clinical assessment usually shows a connective tissue disorder,
the result of the immune system attacking the tissues of the
body. The immune elements of T-lymphocytes, B-cells and "PAC-man"
cells, instead of attacking bacterial, viral and yeast fungal
invaders, attack the cells of the thyroid (HT), joint surfaces
(RA), peripheral vascular bed (Raynaud's) or the skin cells
with patches across the nose and cheeks (lupus) erythematosus).
There are no simple answers for this perplexing group of problems,
yet insights are beginning to arrive on the clinical horizon
that may indicate why T-cell mediated lesions are developed
and a screening questionnaire has been developed to help assess
this problem (see Mercury Toxicity Questionnaire). Patients
who score more than five "yeses" should be referred
to a dentist familiar with "silver" amalgam removal.
Any filling in the mouth that looked silver when it was new and is gray or black now is probably 50% mercury, the rest being copper, silver, tin, and zinc. There are numerous amalgam mixes on the market. They have names like Dispersalloy®, Spheraloy®, and Tytin®. The mercury content ranges from 43 to 54%.1
Although these fillings are commonly called silver fillings because they look silver for the first few days of the eight to twelve years they survive in the average human head, mercury fillings would be a more accurate label. (And speaking of accurate labels, the origins of the word mercury are both interesting and provocative. Mercury was the God of Commerce in the Roman
Empire and meant fabrication, trickery, thieving and slight-of-hand.)
In this article the more formal term "amalgam" is
used. The name "amalgam" reflects the ability of mercury
to bind or amalgamate powdered silver and other metals into
a hard filling.
Evidence that these fillings give systemic pathology as well
as periodontal disease exists. In one study it was observed
that when 50 subjects without amalgams were compared to 51 subjects
with amalgams, there was a greater incidence of problems in
the latter group. They experienced greater incidence of chest
pains, tachycardia, anemia, fatigue and tendency to tire easily.
They also had significantly higher blood pressure, lower heart
rate and lower hemoglobin.2
A study in Canada has shown that pregnant sheep with new silver amalgams have elevated levels of mercury in their fetuses within two weeks of placement of the fillings. Further studies on monkeys showed the same findings. These studies were done by Viny, Takahasi and Lorsheider at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine.3
In addition to the reports from the United States, Canada and
Japan, European researchers have observed many adverse reports
concerning amalgams. On February 18, 1994, mercury fillings
were banned in Sweden for children and youth 19 years of age
because evidence showed them to be a trigger of autoimmune disorder.
Although mercury fillings have been widely used in the decades
since, research demonstrating that such fillings are safe has
yet to be done. Research that has been done and reported in
scientific literature demonstrates that:
1. Mercury escapes from fillings in the form of vapor created by chewing. It then enters the bloodstream and is delivered to all parts of the body, including the brain. (A recent autopsy of an 82 year-old women from St. Paul with confirmed Alzheimer's disease had studies done by the Mayo Heavy Metals Lab. Brain tissue examination showed 5.3 UGIG mercury (53 times normal levels). The pathologies reported "neurofibrillary tangle" in the brain sections that are common in such patients. She had multiple amalgams.)
2. People with mercury fillings have higher levels of mercury
in their urine, blood and brain than people without fillings.
Another significant European development about mercury amalgams
was reported when Degussa AG, the largest producer of dental
amalgams in Germany announced it would no longer provide such
amalgams because of pending and future lawsuits. This was based
on a Federal Court ruling that dentists who use such amalgams
face legal liability.4
Next came a series of studies by Dr. Catherine Kousmine of France, who reported that illnesses like MS and chronic polyarthritis, both autoimmune diseases, are triggered by silver amalgams.
This is outlined in her book, La Sclerosa and Plaques Est Guerissable
(Multiple Sclerosis is Curable).
One more European study on MS comes from Great Britain. It reports
that the highest incidence of MS is found in Northern Ireland
and the Scottish Island of Orkeny and Shetland. They also have
the highest incidence of dental cavities and dental fillings.
This provides more suspicion that mercury is a possible link
to autoimmune dysfunction.
Conclusion
It is our conclusion that mercury toxicity is an autoimmune disorder. This was summarized recently in an article in Advance magazine.4 Its wide range of symptoms can only be accounted for multiple adverse effects on the immune system, nerve tissue and connective tissue in general. The Mercury Toxicity Questionnaire has now been tested on over 200 patients and will serve as a warning/alert to clinicians when patients have scores of "yes" in five or more of the questions. Such patients should then be referred to dentists with special knowledge of mercury amalgam removal and replacement with nontoxic composites and dental materials.
References
1. Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human
Services, Dental Amalgams: A Scientific Review and Recommended
Public Health Service Strategy for Research, Education and Regulation,
January 1993, Washington, DC, p. 1.
2. Ziff, M.F. "Docmented clinical side effect to dental
amalgams." Adv. Dent. Res. 1992; 1(6):131-134.
3. Vimy, J.D. Takahasi, Y., Lorscheider, F.L. "Maternal-fetal
distribution of mercury released from dental amalgam fillings."
Am. J. Physiol. 1990;258:939-945.
4. Brake, M. "Sweden bans amalgams." The international
DAMS newsletter; Spring 1994: 1.
5. Sehnert, K.W. "Autoimmune Disorders, "Advance,
January 1995, p. 47-48.
History of the debate about mercury
French dentists were the first to mix mercury with various other
metals and plug the mixture into cavities and teeth. The first
mixtures, developed in the early 1800s, had relatively little
mercury in them and had to be heated to get the metals to bind.
In 1819, a man named Bell in England developed an amalgam mix
with much more mercury in it that bound the metals at room temperature.
Taveau in France developed a similar mixture in 1826.1
When amalgams were introduced to the US in 1833 by two French
entrepreneurs, the Crawcour brothers, amalgam use was denounced
by a substantial number of American dentists. So strong was
the opposition to amalgams that the American Society of Dental
Surgeons, formed in 1840, required its members to sign pledges
promising not to use them.6 It is an intriguing historical note
that the common term for mercury in Germany in those years was
"quick silver." The German pronunciation for "quick"
is "quack." Thus, those dentists who used mercury
were called "quacks." This term has now come to mean
anyone who is an "ignorant pretender to medical skill"
(The Random House Dictionary of The English Language). In 1848,
the Society found 11 of its New York members guilty of "malpractice
for using amalgam" and suspended them. Internal debate
over this issue led to the demise of the Society in 1856. Its
successor organization, the American Dental Association, sought
to unite dentists and, in its early days, did not take a stand
on the issue of amalgam safety. The Encyclopedia Britannica
reports that "amalgams were not altogether in good repute
until after 1895," which suggests that the ADA was supporting
the use of amalgams by then. Despite the efforts of a few researchers
in this country and Europe to call attention to the dangers
of mercury named Dr. Alfred Stock who published numerous articles
prior to World War II,7 and Hal Huggins, a Colorado dentist
who has spoken out against amalgams for the last 20 years,8
debate about the safety of mercury fillings remained muffled
until recently.
The amalgam safety debate was revived in this country first
by a 1989 Environmental Protection Agency declaration that amalgams
are a hazardous substance under the Superfund law,9 and then
a December 1990 broadcast of a program by "60 Minutes"
that presented a devastating critique of amalgams. The program
created a stir throughout the country.
"Switchboards lit up at the state dental societies, dental
schools, and the American Dental Association,' said Consumer
Reports.7 The American Dental Association got calls from two
dozen reporters. The publicity was the apparent cause of the
following activity in 1991: and FDA hearing; a conference sponsored
by the National Institute of Dental Research; and a call for
a review of the research by the US Public Health Service.
The dental establishment was furious with CBS. The ADA attacked CBS in the January 7, 1991 edition of its newspaper for "the irresponsible ways in which viewers were led to the conclusion that amalgam filings are unsafe." To the contrary, said the ADA, "scientific evidence…suggests mercury amalgam is safe to use." The ADA newspaper published statements by Dr. Harold Loe, director of National Institute of Dental
Research, criticizing CBS for having "an obvious bias"
against amalgams. Dentists all over the country received information
packets from the ADA, including copies of the ADA newspaper
and a 1986 article from Consumer Reports. The ADA also promoted
its message in a two-minute video news release sent to 700 TV
stations on December 17, 1990, on its weekly radio show on December
18, 1990, and in its journal, the Journal of the American Dental
Association.
The 1986 article by Consumer Reports pooh-poohed those who criticize the use of mercury in fillings. The article concluded: "Dentists who purport to treat health problems by ripping out fillings are putting their own economic welfare ahead of their patients' welfare…Except for a few people with a genuine allergy to mercury we know of no one who's been harmed by them."7
Consumer Reports published a similar article in May of 1991
which the ADA and the MN Dental Association have also distributed
widely. This article criticized research showing that silver-mercury
fillings are unsafe and concluded that "amalgam fillings
are still your best bet."8
"60 Minutes" and the anti-amalgam movement have other
critics besides the ADA and Consumer Reports - they include
the Arthritis Foundation, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and
the ultra-right Accuracy in Media9 - but no one has more credibility
on this issue than the ADA and Consumer Reports. For that reason,
it is important for anyone trying to understand this issue to
understand the arguments of these two organizations and why
their arguments fail.
Sources
1. Mackert, Jr., J. Rodway, "Dental Amalgam and Mercury,"
Journal of the American Dental Association 122: 54-61 (1991)
p. 54.
2. "Dentistry," Encylopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia
Britannica, Inc., Chicago, 1960, Vol. 7, p. 225. The US Public
Health Service states: "Questions regarding its [i.e.,
amalgam's] safety has been raised virtually from the time of
its first use."
3. Hanson, M. and Pelva, J., "The Dental Amalgam Issue:
A Review," Experientia 47:9-22 (1991).
4. Huggins, Hal H., It's All in Your Head: Diseases Caused by
Silver-Mercury Fillings, 4th Ed., Life Sciences Press, 1990.
5. "Amalgam declared hazardous," Dentistry Today,
February 1989, p.1.
6. "Mercury in your mouth," Consumer Reports, May
1991, p. 316.
7. "The mercury scare" Consumer Reports, March 1986,
150-152, p. 152.
8. "The mercury in your mouth," Consumer Reports,
May 1991, 316-319, p.319.
9. "MS, arthritis groups get amalgam calls," ADA News,
January 7, 1991; "CBS spurs false hopes, false fears,"
Accuracy in Media press release, January-B, 1991.
10.Toxic Mercury Amalgam Fillings & Mercury Detoxification
Dr. Tom McGuire is considered a leading authority on mercury amalgam (silver) fillings, chronic mercury poisoning, mercury detoxification, and holistic dental wellness. He has also written several books, including The Poison in Your Teeth: Mercury Amalgam (Silver) Fillings . . . Hazardous to Your Health!, Mercury Detoxification, and Tooth Fitness. To learn more about Dr. McGuire, visit his user-friendly and informative oral health website at www.dentalwellness4u.com.
