Mercury thermometers

[Guest guest]

I'm thinking this is -- but hoping it's not -- too nebulous a question.

Scenario: Around 1952. Mother plops kindergarten-age daughter onto edge

of kitchen counter and inserts mercury thermometer into child's mouth for

temperature taking. The child's been taken out of school with a mysterious

illness that leaves her flat. At first the family doctor thinks the girl

has some kind of leukemia because the white cells are going berserk. (Then

his verdict comes back: infectious mononucleosis, he says, a new kind of

sickness that carries this new name that people are unfamiliar with.) Skip

back to the kitchen counter with the little girl dangling off the edge and

the mercury thermometer still in her mouth. Her mother's manner is " short "

for whatever reason. Worry about the child's health or

survival? Shortness is the mother's nature? Who knows. But the child is

a child and is impatient. She feels like crap and can't go to school or go

outside to play. She concentrates as hard as she can and then does it: She

bites down on the mercury thermometer and snaps it in half while it's still

in her mouth. Mother is horrified when she comes back into the room

however many seconds or minutes later. She pries open the girl's mouth to

take out the pieces of the glass and whatever else is there. She says she

thinks she " got it all. "

I don't know how much mercury was / is in the old mercury thermometers. I

don't know how much mercury I may have swallowed or absorbed. I'm assuming

a minuscule amount if any, since my mother said she thought she got it all.

Should I be thinking about this mercury incident in any other way than just

as an anecdote from childhood?

Just curious. Thanks ahead of time for any opinion / input.

still in Champaign IL

" " <simplicity46@...wrote:

[...]

I do believe it is extremely probable that the major 'source of the

toxins' in my individual case, was very likely to have been the daily

handling of liquid mercury without gloves or mask, whilst I worked as

a chairside dental assistant for around ten years during the 1970's

and 1980's.

[...]

- if you have ever tried filling an amalgamator machine with mercury

from a very large, very heavy bottle, trust me, no matter how careful

you are, it spills regularly, (its the incredible heaviness of the

liquid that makes it difficult to manouver)

and when it hits the floor it splits into thousands of tiny fast-

moving globules (quicksilver); which then sat in the carpet around my

feet every single day giving off toxic fumes....

I think the most probable source of my mercury exposure was quite

likely to have been:

inhaling the exhaust from the aspirator,

inhaling the spray from the drill when removing old amalgam fillings,

handling liquid mercury and the soft amalgam mixture many times a day,

and inhaling the fumes from a number of different sources.

I have been led to understand also, that individuals working in a

dental surgery will also carry mercury particles on their hair,skin

and clothes, out into their cars and homes when they leave work.

And that is where it remains, giving off its toxic vapour

indefinitely...