Fw: Are silver dental fillings safe? ~ MSNBC

[Guest guest]

I do not allow anyone in my family to get amalgam fillings. All 4 of mine

have been removed and replaced with composite resin. If you think this may

be an issue for you, I would recommend looking into possible removal and

replacement, paying very close attention to detoxing the mercury for several

months afterward! Look for dentists who do not use mercury. These sites

may be helpful.

http://www.amalgam.org/ and

http://www.unpronounceable.com/amalgam/links.html

Patty

From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 3:14 PM

Subject: Are silver dental fillings safe? ~ MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.com/news/599087.asp?0si=-#BODY

Are silver dental fillings safe?

Your Environment drills into the controversy

By Francesca Lyman

SPECIAL TO MSNBC

July 11 Anyone who has ever had a tooth cavity has probably seen a

dentist who drilled it and packed it with a " silver " filling. But how many

patients know what's in that silver? And whether it could have

consequences for your health?

PAINED FOR years by fatigue, aches, severe allergies and other

chronic ills, Lydia Bronte never suspected that the cause of her problems

might be something in her teeth.

It wasn't until she sought the help of holistic physician Dr.

Warren Levin that she got relief. Levin diagnosed Bronte with mercury

poisoning and pointed to her dental amalgams as a probable source.

After realizing she had 17 dental amalgams in her mouth, Bronte was

doubly shocked to discover that these " silver " fillings were not made

chiefly of silver but of an alloy whose principal ingredient is mercury, a

metal that can cause neurological damage at high levels.

" I was very conservative at the time and found this diagnosis hard

to believe, " she says. " Nevertheless, based on the high mercury reading in

[urine and blood] tests, I decided to have the amalgams out. "

This, and further treatments to remove the metal from her body, she

says, made a big difference. Today, though not feeling 100 percent, she

says her condition has vastly improved.

Could silver dental fillings be causing, or contributing to, health

problems? Holistic health advocates, environmentalists and a growing cadre

of " mercury-free " dentists fear amalgams emit dangerous levels of mercury,

stirring up a health controversy that goes back 150 years.

Scientists agree that when absorbed in high enough doses, mercury,

in all its chemical forms, can damage the brain, nervous system, kidneys

and other organs, especially in infants and children. But they differ on

not only how much mercury must be absorbed to cause adverse health

effects, but also just how much of the amalgam's mercury is absorbed by

the human body to begin with.

Dental associations pooh-pooh alleged dangers. The ADA considers it

" a safe, affordable and durable material " that has been used for " more

than 150 years and during that time has established an extensively

reviewed record of safety and effectiveness. "

ADA quotes the U.S. Public Health Service's 1993 report stating

that amalgam has no health consequences other than for a small percentage

of people who might be allergic to the metals.

Others, however, like Boyd Haley, a chemist at the University of

Kentucky, argue that it is harmful to more than just sensitive

populations. Most people with amalgam fillings get an unsafe dose of the

heavy metal because mercury vapor leaks continually from the fillings,

says Haley, who recently testified before Congress on mercury exposure in

children.

Consumer groups argue, meanwhile, that dental patients ought to be

told about what's going into their mouths.

In June, a coalition of citizens' health and environmental groups

filed suit against the American Dental Association for allegedly deceiving

consumers into thinking amalgam fillings are made of silver, when in fact

the major component (about 50 percent, according to the suit) is mercury.

They also claim that the ADA has failed to disclose information regarding

the significant risk of harm associated with the fillings in order to

promote the continued use of amalgams, a product in which it has a

financial stake as a paid endorser.

" If mercury is so safe, why do they try to hide it? " says Charlie

Brown, one of the lawyers representing Consumers for Dental Choice (CDC),

a plaintiff in the suit. Brown notes that CDC has already succeeded in

winning a state ruling that requires the California state dental board to

advise participating dentists to tell their patients about the mercury

content of amalgam fillings as well as discuss with them any sensitivities

and the potential for adverse reactions, including suspected links to

birth defects.

Although mercury has been known to be poisonous since ancient

times, dentistry associations claim that the mercury is tightly bound with

other metals, rendering it safe. Silver fillings usually contain a mix of

silver, tin and copper as well as zinc and other metals, according to the

Journal of the American Dental Association.

Mercury is essential to make the amalgam harden and adhere, says

ADA spokesman J. Rodney Mackert, professor of dentistry at the Medical

College of Georgia and an expert in materials science.

TRACKING MERCURY'S VAPORS

It wasn't commonly known that amalgam released mercury vapor until

recently, although the issue was raised more than a century ago. In 1985,

Fritz Lorscheider, a fetal physiologist, and Canadian dentist Murray Vimy

showed that mercury in amalgam continuously vaporizes; measuring mercury

in the mouths of 46 people, they also found that the amount of vapor

released from fillings rose when the subjects chewed gum or brushed their

teeth. In 1990, the same scientists reported that studies on sheep using

radioactively tagged mercury revealed that the highly volatile and

unpredictable element travels to the gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver

and brain.

" Whether those [latter] studies are applicable to humans is a

matter of serious importance to public health, " says Dr. Norman Braveman,

a research administrator at the National Institute of Dental and

Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), which has two studies underway on the

subject. At issue, he says, is what dose of mercury a typical patient gets

in the dentist's office, how much he is exposed to daily and potential

health effects that might arise from this dose. And there isn't much

agreement on any of those questions.

" There's no question that mercury is not healthy for us, " says

Vasken Aposhian, a professor of cellular and molecular biology at the

University of Arizona who has studied how mercury acts on the body. How

many amalgams you have makes a big difference in terms of how much mercury

your body's absorbing, he maintains.

" Some people are hyper-sensitive to metals and can get very sick "

from amounts that others can safely handle, he says. " Most are at risk

from multiple exposures from fish, food and other sources. "

At a Congressional hearing on the use of mercury in medicine last

year, Aposhian told legislators that Americans' greatest exposure to

mercury is from fillings - a serious threat, he says, because it can cross

the placenta and harm the developing nervous system of the fetus.

ADA, however, maintains that the amount of mercury that

vaporizes from the amalgam is trivial, and less significant than exposures

in food, water and air. " Yes, " acknowledges ADA's Mackert, " mercury is a

poison, " and amalgams vaporize, " something only recently discovered. " But,

he argues, " there is no convincing evidence that the small amount of

mercury vapor from amalgams has any effect on humans. "

Further, says Mackert, repeating the mantra of the ADA, " there have

been no studies conclusively linking mercury from dental amalgams with any

diseases. "

But concerns about possible effects " can't be dismissed, " as the

U.S. Public Health Service noted. Studies show that people with more

dental amalgam fillings have higher levels of mercury in their bodies. And

researchers at the University of Calgary School of Medicine showed that

mercury could be found in the blood and tissues of pregnant mothers and

their fetuses within a few days after mercury fillings were placed.

Mercury in dental fillings has been linked to other adverse health

effects. Anne Summers, a microbiologist at the University of Georgia, for

example, found that mercury from fillings can inhibit the effectiveness of

antibiotics. Scientists at the Battelle Centers for Public Health Research

and Evaluation in Seattle linked exposure to mercury vapor from dental

amalgam fillings to central nervous system toxicity among dental

personnel.

The Battelle team also found " convincing new evidence of adverse

behavioral effects associated with mercury exposures from amalgam fillings

within the range of that received by the general population. " And

researchers at the Colorado State University, Department of Physiology, in

Fort , Colo. have linked dental amalgam exposure to mental illness.

Haley and other scientists, including Vimy and Lorscheider, found

in experiments on rat brains that chronic inhalation of low-level mercury

ã at levels that simulate exposure to amalagam fillings ã can inhibit

brain chemistry, producing lesions similar to those in Alzheimer's

diseased brains. Mercury inhibits the efficiency of tubulin, a protein

vital to brain cells, they explain.

SAFE FOR HUMAN USE

Despite such studies, though, the National Institutes of Health,

the U.S. Public Health Service, and the World Health Organization have all

concluded that amalgams are safe enough to use. There is " no solid

evidence of any harm for millions of Americans who have these fillings, "

wrote the U.S. Public Health Service, and " no persuasive reason to believe

that avoiding amalgams or having them removed will have a beneficial

impact on health. "

By contrast, Canada recently restricted the number of amalgams that

could be placed in children and pregnant women, following similar laws

passed in Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries. But

having produced its new guidelines, the U.K. government then qualified

that it had no evidence that there was a risk from amalgam, complicating

the issue even further.

While the battle for reliable science rages, many dentists are

switching away from mercury. A 1995 survey of dentists found 8.7 percent

wanting to ban amalgam and 12.3 percent uncertain about its safety,

according to a report published in the March issue of the Journal of the

American Dental Association.

Dr. McLaughlin, a Redmond, Wash., dentist says he isn't

necessarily in the anti-mercury camp but has eliminated amalgams from his

practice for his own safety and that of his staff; he also removed all the

mercury from his own teeth, and that of his wife and his staff.

Remembering how he had to dispose of his scrap

amalgam as hazardous waste, he says, " It's OK to place these in people's

mouths yet it's considered hazardous when you take it out. Go figure that

one out. "

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Given amalgam's long track record, however, the government is

hesitant to ban it without greater evidence of harm to human health.

" If we ban this material, " NIDCR's Braveman, " what are our

alternatives, and will they do the job as well? "

For now, he says, two government-funded studies are tracking 1,000

children -- half with mercury amalgams, half with alternative materials --

for such traits as behavior, intelligence, antibiotic resistance, immune

function and memory. The results, he says, will be available in about four

years.

In the meantime, if you're concerned that you have a great many

mercury fillings, Bronte suggests checking yourself for symptoms of

mercury toxicity and having your fillings replaced with non-toxic

materials.

" If your regular dentist really isn't familiar with these

materials, you are better off finding a dentist who is familiar with

them, " advises Bronte, who went on to write " The Mercury in Your Mouth "

after her health improved.

As more patients find out what's in mercury fillings, adds advocate

Brown, " more dentists will make it their business to know about the

alternatives. "

[Guest guest]

Hi Patty & Group,

My personal dentist told me 2-years ago, that amalgam fillings were illegal, and had been for a couple of years. I need to ask him if that's a state or federal law!!! FYI!

MM / NSIF

----- Original Message -----

From: Patty

Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 6:51 PM

Subject: Fw: Are silver dental fillings safe? ~ MSNBC

I do not allow anyone in my family to get amalgam fillings. All 4 of minehave been removed and replaced with composite resin. If you think this maybe an issue for you, I would recommend looking into possible removal andreplacement, paying very close attention to detoxing the mercury for severalmonths afterward! Look for dentists who do not use mercury. These sitesmay be helpful.http://www.amalgam.org/ andhttp://www.unpronounceable.com/amalgam/links.htmlPattyFrom: "Ilena Rose" <ilena@...>Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 3:14 PMSubject: Are silver dental fillings safe? ~ MSNBChttp://www.msnbc.com/news/599087.asp?0si=-#BODYAre silver dental fillings safe?Your Environment drills into the controversyBy Francesca LymanSPECIAL TO MSNBCJuly 11 Anyone who has ever had a tooth cavity has probably seen adentist who drilled it and packed it with a "silver" filling. But how manypatients know what's in that silver? And whether it could haveconsequences for your health? PAINED FOR years by fatigue, aches, severe allergies and otherchronic ills, Lydia Bronte never suspected that the cause of her problemsmight be something in her teeth. It wasn't until she sought the help of holistic physician Dr.Warren Levin that she got relief. Levin diagnosed Bronte with mercurypoisoning and pointed to her dental amalgams as a probable source. After realizing she had 17 dental amalgams in her mouth, Bronte wasdoubly shocked to discover that these "silver" fillings were not madechiefly of silver but of an alloy whose principal ingredient is mercury, ametal that can cause neurological damage at high levels. "I was very conservative at the time and found this diagnosis hardto believe," she says. "Nevertheless, based on the high mercury reading in[urine and blood] tests, I decided to have the amalgams out." This, and further treatments to remove the metal from her body, shesays, made a big difference. Today, though not feeling 100 percent, shesays her condition has vastly improved. Could silver dental fillings be causing, or contributing to, healthproblems? Holistic health advocates, environmentalists and a growing cadreof "mercury-free" dentists fear amalgams emit dangerous levels of mercury,stirring up a health controversy that goes back 150 years. Scientists agree that when absorbed in high enough doses, mercury,in all its chemical forms, can damage the brain, nervous system, kidneysand other organs, especially in infants and children. But they differ onnot only how much mercury must be absorbed to cause adverse healtheffects, but also just how much of the amalgam's mercury is absorbed bythe human body to begin with. Dental associations pooh-pooh alleged dangers. The ADA considers it"a safe, affordable and durable material" that has been used for "morethan 150 years and during that time has established an extensivelyreviewed record of safety and effectiveness." ADA quotes the U.S. Public Health Service's 1993 report statingthat amalgam has no health consequences other than for a small percentageof people who might be allergic to the metals. Others, however, like Boyd Haley, a chemist at the University ofKentucky, argue that it is harmful to more than just sensitivepopulations. Most people with amalgam fillings get an unsafe dose of theheavy metal because mercury vapor leaks continually from the fillings,says Haley, who recently testified before Congress on mercury exposure inchildren. Consumer groups argue, meanwhile, that dental patients ought to betold about what's going into their mouths. In June, a coalition of citizens' health and environmental groupsfiled suit against the American Dental Association for allegedly deceivingconsumers into thinking amalgam fillings are made of silver, when in factthe major component (about 50 percent, according to the suit) is mercury.They also claim that the ADA has failed to disclose information regardingthe significant risk of harm associated with the fillings in order topromote the continued use of amalgams, a product in which it has afinancial stake as a paid endorser. "If mercury is so safe, why do they try to hide it?" says CharlieBrown, one of the lawyers representing Consumers for Dental Choice (CDC),a plaintiff in the suit. Brown notes that CDC has already succeeded inwinning a state ruling that requires the California state dental board toadvise participating dentists to tell their patients about the mercurycontent of amalgam fillings as well as discuss with them any sensitivitiesand the potential for adverse reactions, including suspected links tobirth defects. Although mercury has been known to be poisonous since ancienttimes, dentistry associations claim that the mercury is tightly bound withother metals, rendering it safe. Silver fillings usually contain a mix ofsilver, tin and copper as well as zinc and other metals, according to theJournal of the American Dental Association. Mercury is essential to make the amalgam harden and adhere, saysADA spokesman J. Rodney Mackert, professor of dentistry at the MedicalCollege of Georgia and an expert in materials science.TRACKING MERCURY'S VAPORS It wasn't commonly known that amalgam released mercury vapor untilrecently, although the issue was raised more than a century ago. In 1985,Fritz Lorscheider, a fetal physiologist, and Canadian dentist Murray Vimyshowed that mercury in amalgam continuously vaporizes; measuring mercuryin the mouths of 46 people, they also found that the amount of vaporreleased from fillings rose when the subjects chewed gum or brushed theirteeth. In 1990, the same scientists reported that studies on sheep usingradioactively tagged mercury revealed that the highly volatile andunpredictable element travels to the gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liverand brain. "Whether those [latter] studies are applicable to humans is amatter of serious importance to public health," says Dr. Norman Braveman,a research administrator at the National Institute of Dental andCraniofacial Research (NIDCR), which has two studies underway on thesubject. At issue, he says, is what dose of mercury a typical patient getsin the dentist's office, how much he is exposed to daily and potentialhealth effects that might arise from this dose. And there isn't muchagreement on any of those questions. "There's no question that mercury is not healthy for us," saysVasken Aposhian, a professor of cellular and molecular biology at theUniversity of Arizona who has studied how mercury acts on the body. Howmany amalgams you have makes a big difference in terms of how much mercuryyour body's absorbing, he maintains. "Some people are hyper-sensitive to metals and can get very sick"from amounts that others can safely handle, he says. "Most are at riskfrom multiple exposures from fish, food and other sources." At a Congressional hearing on the use of mercury in medicine lastyear, Aposhian told legislators that Americans' greatest exposure tomercury is from fillings - a serious threat, he says, because it can crossthe placenta and harm the developing nervous system of the fetus. ADA, however, maintains that the amount of mercury thatvaporizes from the amalgam is trivial, and less significant than exposuresin food, water and air. "Yes," acknowledges ADA's Mackert, "mercury is apoison," and amalgams vaporize, "something only recently discovered." But,he argues, "there is no convincing evidence that the small amount ofmercury vapor from amalgams has any effect on humans." Further, says Mackert, repeating the mantra of the ADA, "there havebeen no studies conclusively linking mercury from dental amalgams with anydiseases." But concerns about possible effects "can't be dismissed," as theU.S. Public Health Service noted. Studies show that people with moredental amalgam fillings have higher levels of mercury in their bodies. Andresearchers at the University of Calgary School of Medicine showed thatmercury could be found in the blood and tissues of pregnant mothers andtheir fetuses within a few days after mercury fillings were placed. Mercury in dental fillings has been linked to other adverse healtheffects. Anne Summers, a microbiologist at the University of Georgia, forexample, found that mercury from fillings can inhibit the effectiveness ofantibiotics. Scientists at the Battelle Centers for Public Health Researchand Evaluation in Seattle linked exposure to mercury vapor from dentalamalgam fillings to central nervous system toxicity among dentalpersonnel. The Battelle team also found "convincing new evidence of adversebehavioral effects associated with mercury exposures from amalgam fillingswithin the range of that received by the general population." Andresearchers at the Colorado State University, Department of Physiology, inFort , Colo. have linked dental amalgam exposure to mental illness. Haley and other scientists, including Vimy and Lorscheider, foundin experiments on rat brains that chronic inhalation of low-level mercuryã at levels that simulate exposure to amalagam fillings ã can inhibitbrain chemistry, producing lesions similar to those in Alzheimer'sdiseased brains. Mercury inhibits the efficiency of tubulin, a proteinvital to brain cells, they explain.SAFE FOR HUMAN USE Despite such studies, though, the National Institutes of Health,the U.S. Public Health Service, and the World Health Organization have allconcluded that amalgams are safe enough to use. There is "no solidevidence of any harm for millions of Americans who have these fillings,"wrote the U.S. Public Health Service, and "no persuasive reason to believethat avoiding amalgams or having them removed will have a beneficialimpact on health." By contrast, Canada recently restricted the number of amalgams thatcould be placed in children and pregnant women, following similar lawspassed in Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries. Buthaving produced its new guidelines, the U.K. government then qualifiedthat it had no evidence that there was a risk from amalgam, complicatingthe issue even further. While the battle for reliable science rages, many dentists areswitching away from mercury. A 1995 survey of dentists found 8.7 percentwanting to ban amalgam and 12.3 percent uncertain about its safety,according to a report published in the March issue of the Journal of theAmerican Dental Association. Dr. McLaughlin, a Redmond, Wash., dentist says he isn'tnecessarily in the anti-mercury camp but has eliminated amalgams from hispractice for his own safety and that of his staff; he also removed all themercury from his own teeth, and that of his wife and his staff. Remembering how he had to dispose of his scrapamalgam as hazardous waste, he says, "It's OK to place these in people'smouths yet it's considered hazardous when you take it out. Go figure thatone out."LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Given amalgam's long track record, however, the government ishesitant to ban it without greater evidence of harm to human health. "If we ban this material," NIDCR's Braveman, "what are ouralternatives, and will they do the job as well?" For now, he says, two government-funded studies are tracking 1,000children -- half with mercury amalgams, half with alternative materials --for such traits as behavior, intelligence, antibiotic resistance, immunefunction and memory. The results, he says, will be available in about fouryears. In the meantime, if you're concerned that you have a great manymercury fillings, Bronte suggests checking yourself for symptoms ofmercury toxicity and having your fillings replaced with non-toxicmaterials. "If your regular dentist really isn't familiar with thesematerials, you are better off finding a dentist who is familiar withthem," advises Bronte, who went on to write "The Mercury in Your Mouth"after her health improved. As more patients find out what's in mercury fillings, adds advocateBrown, "more dentists will make it their business to know about thealternatives."

[Guest guest]

I also heard about mercury fillings being illegal in

some states, but I had a dentist appt yesterday and

asked him. He had never heard of mercury fillings being

illegal anywhere in the states. He did say that some

countries have made mercury fillings illegal.

But I too, had heard this and wanted to make sure that I

got white fillings and not the mercury. I still have 2

mercury fillings in my mouth. But I had 2 permanent

fillings placed yesterday for a root canal I had in the

spring, and they are the white fillings.

Let me know if anyone has any info about the legality of

mercury fillings.

e

> Hi Patty & Group,

>

> My personal dentist told me 2-years ago, that amalgam fillings were illegal,

and

> had been for a couple of years. I need to ask him if that's a state or

federal

> law!!! FYI!

>

> MM / NSIF

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: Patty

>

> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 6:51 PM

> Subject: Fw: Are silver dental fillings safe? ~ MSNBC

>

>

> I do not allow anyone in my family to get amalgam fillings. All 4 of mine

> have been removed and replaced with composite resin. If you think this may

> be an issue for you, I would recommend looking into possible removal and

> replacement, paying very close attention to detoxing the mercury for several

> months afterward! Look for dentists who do not use mercury. These sites

> may be helpful.

> http://www.amalgam.org/ and

> http://www.unpronounceable.com/amalgam/links.html

> Patty

> From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 3:14 PM

> Subject: Are silver dental fillings safe? ~ MSNBC

>

>

> http://www.msnbc.com/news/599087.asp?0si=-#BODY

>

> Are silver dental fillings safe?

> Your Environment drills into the controversy

>

> By Francesca Lyman

>

> SPECIAL TO MSNBC

>

> July 11 Anyone who has ever had a tooth cavity has probably seen a

> dentist who drilled it and packed it with a " silver " filling. But how many

> patients know what's in that silver? And whether it could have

> consequences for your health?

>

> PAINED FOR years by fatigue, aches, severe allergies and other

> chronic ills, Lydia Bronte never suspected that the cause of her problems

> might be something in her teeth.

>

> It wasn't until she sought the help of holistic physician Dr.

> Warren Levin that she got relief. Levin diagnosed Bronte with mercury

> poisoning and pointed to her dental amalgams as a probable source.

>

> After realizing she had 17 dental amalgams in her mouth, Bronte was

> doubly shocked to discover that these " silver " fillings were not made

> chiefly of silver but of an alloy whose principal ingredient is mercury, a

> metal that can cause neurological damage at high levels.

>

> " I was very conservative at the time and found this diagnosis hard

> to believe, " she says. " Nevertheless, based on the high mercury reading in

> [urine and blood] tests, I decided to have the amalgams out. "

>

> This, and further treatments to remove the metal from her body, she

> says, made a big difference. Today, though not feeling 100 percent, she

> says her condition has vastly improved.

>

> Could silver dental fillings be causing, or contributing to, health

> problems? Holistic health advocates, environmentalists and a growing cadre

> of " mercury-free " dentists fear amalgams emit dangerous levels of mercury,

> stirring up a health controversy that goes back 150 years.

>

> Scientists agree that when absorbed in high enough doses, mercury,

> in all its chemical forms, can damage the brain, nervous system, kidneys

> and other organs, especially in infants and children. But they differ on

> not only how much mercury must be absorbed to cause adverse health

> effects, but also just how much of the amalgam's mercury is absorbed by

> the human body to begin with.

>

> Dental associations pooh-pooh alleged dangers. The ADA considers it

> " a safe, affordable and durable material " that has been used for " more

> than 150 years and during that time has established an extensively

> reviewed record of safety and effectiveness. "

>

> ADA quotes the U.S. Public Health Service's 1993 report stating

> that amalgam has no health consequences other than for a small percentage

> of people who might be allergic to the metals.

>

> Others, however, like Boyd Haley, a chemist at the University of

> Kentucky, argue that it is harmful to more than just sensitive

> populations. Most people with amalgam fillings get an unsafe dose of the

> heavy metal because mercury vapor leaks continually from the fillings,

> says Haley, who recently testified before Congress on mercury exposure in

> children.

>

> Consumer groups argue, meanwhile, that dental patients ought to be

> told about what's going into their mouths.

>

> In June, a coalition of citizens' health and environmental groups

> filed suit against the American Dental Association for allegedly deceiving

> consumers into thinking amalgam fillings are made of silver, when in fact

> the major component (about 50 percent, according to the suit) is mercury.

> They also claim that the ADA has failed to disclose information regarding

> the significant risk of harm associated with the fillings in order to

> promote the continued use of amalgams, a product in which it has a

> financial stake as a paid endorser.

>

> " If mercury is so safe, why do they try to hide it? " says Charlie

> Brown, one of the lawyers representing Consumers for Dental Choice (CDC),

> a plaintiff in the suit. Brown notes that CDC has already succeeded in

> winning a state ruling that requires the California state dental board to

> advise participating dentists to tell their patients about the mercury

> content of amalgam fillings as well as discuss with them any sensitivities

> and the potential for adverse reactions, including suspected links to

> birth defects.

>

> Although mercury has been known to be poisonous since ancient

> times, dentistry associations claim that the mercury is tightly bound with

> other metals, rendering it safe. Silver fillings usually contain a mix of

> silver, tin and copper as well as zinc and other metals, according to the

> Journal of the American Dental Association.

>

> Mercury is essential to make the amalgam harden and adhere, says

> ADA spokesman J. Rodney Mackert, professor of dentistry at the Medical

> College of Georgia and an expert in materials science.

>

> TRACKING MERCURY'S VAPORS

>

> It wasn't commonly known that amalgam released mercury vapor until

> recently, although the issue was raised more than a century ago. In 1985,

> Fritz Lorscheider, a fetal physiologist, and Canadian dentist Murray Vimy

> showed that mercury in amalgam continuously vaporizes; measuring mercury

> in the mouths of 46 people, they also found that the amount of vapor

> released from fillings rose when the subjects chewed gum or brushed their

> teeth. In 1990, the same scientists reported that studies on sheep using

> radioactively tagged mercury revealed that the highly volatile and

> unpredictable element travels to the gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver

> and brain.

>

> " Whether those [latter] studies are applicable to humans is a

> matter of serious importance to public health, " says Dr. Norman Braveman,

> a research administrator at the National Institute of Dental and

> Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), which has two studies underway on the

> subject. At issue, he says, is what dose of mercury a typical patient gets

> in the dentist's office, how much he is exposed to daily and potential

> health effects that might arise from this dose. And there isn't much

> agreement on any of those questions.

>

> " There's no question that mercury is not healthy for us, " says

> Vasken Aposhian, a professor of cellular and molecular biology at the

> University of Arizona who has studied how mercury acts on the body. How

> many amalgams you have makes a big difference in terms of how much mercury

> your body's absorbing, he maintains.

>

> " Some people are hyper-sensitive to metals and can get very sick "

> from amounts that others can safely handle, he says. " Most are at risk

> from multiple exposures from fish, food and other sources. "

>

> At a Congressional hearing on the use of mercury in medicine last

> year, Aposhian told legislators that Americans' greatest exposure to

> mercury is from fillings - a serious threat, he says, because it can cross

> the placenta and harm the developing nervous system of the fetus.

>

> ADA, however, maintains that the amount of mercury that

> vaporizes from the amalgam is trivial, and less significant than exposures

> in food, water and air. " Yes, " acknowledges ADA's Mackert, " mercury is a

> poison, " and amalgams vaporize, " something only recently discovered. " But,

> he argues, " there is no convincing evidence that the small amount of

> mercury vapor from amalgams has any effect on humans. "

>

> Further, says Mackert, repeating the mantra of the ADA, " there have

> been no studies conclusively linking mercury from dental amalgams with any

> diseases. "

>

> But concerns about possible effects " can't be dismissed, " as the

> U.S. Public Health Service noted. Studies show that people with more

> dental amalgam fillings have higher levels of mercury in their bodies. And

> researchers at the University of Calgary School of Medicine showed that

> mercury could be found in the blood and tissues of pregnant mothers and

> their fetuses within a few days after mercury fillings were placed.

>

> Mercury in dental fillings has been linked to other adverse health

> effects. Anne Summers, a microbiologist at the University of Georgia, for

> example, found that mercury from fillings can inhibit the effectiveness of

> antibiotics. Scientists at the Battelle Centers for Public Health Research

> and Evaluation in Seattle linked exposure to mercury vapor from dental

> amalgam fillings to central nervous system toxicity among dental

> personnel.

>

> The Battelle team also found " convincing new evidence of adverse

> behavioral effects associated with mercury exposures from amalgam fillings

> within the range of that received by the general population. " And

> researchers at the Colorado State University, Department of Physiology, in

> Fort , Colo. have linked dental amalgam exposure to mental illness.

>

> Haley and other scientists, including Vimy and Lorscheider, found

> in experiments on rat brains that chronic inhalation of low-level mercury

> ã at levels that simulate exposure to amalagam fillings ã can inhibit

> brain chemistry, producing lesions similar to those in Alzheimer's

> diseased brains. Mercury inhibits the efficiency of tubulin, a protein

> vital to brain cells, they explain.

>

> SAFE FOR HUMAN USE

>

> Despite such studies, though, the National Institutes of Health,

> the U.S. Public Health Service, and the World Health Organization have all

> concluded that amalgams are safe enough to use. There is " no solid

> evidence of any harm for millions of Americans who have these fillings, "

> wrote the U.S. Public Health Service, and " no persuasive reason to believe

> that avoiding amalgams or having them removed will have a beneficial

> impact on health. "

>

> By contrast, Canada recently restricted the number of amalgams that

> could be placed in children and pregnant women, following similar laws

> passed in Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries. But

> having produced its new guidelines, the U.K. government then qualified

> that it had no evidence that there was a risk from amalgam, complicating

> the issue even further.

>

> While the battle for reliable science rages, many dentists are

> switching away from mercury. A 1995 survey of dentists found 8.7 percent

> wanting to ban amalgam and 12.3 percent uncertain about its safety,

> according to a report published in the March issue of the Journal of the

> American Dental Association.

>

> Dr. McLaughlin, a Redmond, Wash., dentist says he isn't

> necessarily in the anti-mercury camp but has eliminated amalgams from his

> practice for his own safety and that of his staff; he also removed all the

> mercury from his own teeth, and that of his wife and his staff.

>

> Remembering how he had to dispose of his scrap

> amalgam as hazardous waste, he says, " It's OK to place these in people's

> mouths yet it's considered hazardous when you take it out. Go figure that

> one out. "

>

> LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

>

> Given amalgam's long track record, however, the government is

> hesitant to ban it without greater evidence of harm to human health.

>

> " If we ban this material, " NIDCR's Braveman, " what are our

> alternatives, and will they do the job as well? "

>

> For now, he says, two government-funded studies are tracking 1,000

> children -- half with mercury amalgams, half with alternative materials --

> for such traits as behavior, intelligence, antibiotic resistance, immune

> function and memory. The results, he says, will be available in about four

> years.

>

> In the meantime, if you're concerned that you have a great many

> mercury fillings, Bronte suggests checking yourself for symptoms of

> mercury toxicity and having your fillings replaced with non-toxic

> materials.

>

> " If your regular dentist really isn't familiar with these

> materials, you are better off finding a dentist who is familiar with

> them, " advises Bronte, who went on to write " The Mercury in Your Mouth "

> after her health improved.

>

> As more patients find out what's in mercury fillings, adds advocate

> Brown, " more dentists will make it their business to know about the

> alternatives. "

>

>

>

>

>

>