Dental Assoc forces disabled to consent to mercury fillings

[Guest guest]

from Kreider

Pennsylvania dental association: Deny all dental treatment to

children with disabilities unless parents consent to mercury

exposure

In an act of moral depravity, the

Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA) and the Philadelphia County Dental

Society (PCDS) have endorsed strong-arming parents of children with

disabilities to force their written consent to mercury fillings. These

dental societies issued a statement to the Philadelphia Board of Health

dated February 11 giving their stamp of approval to dentists who deny all

treatment to disabled children -- no tooth cleanings, no preventive care,

nothing -- unless the parents “consent” to exposing their children to

mercury. In the words of the PDA/PCDS representative before the Board of

Health, “if a guardian refuses amalgam…we will not see the patient.”

Acknowledging that not having routine dental care is detrimental to

health, the PDA/PCDS witness cruelly added that people with disabilities

in Philadelphia have no feasible alternative to his amalgam-happy

practice: Finding another dental facility equipped to treat people with

disabilities would be “a challenge,” he sneered. So the PDA and the

PCDS are forcing parents of children with disabilities -- even children

who already have neurological disorders -- to choose: either “consent” to

the implantation of a neurotoxin an inch from your child’s brain or no

dentist will even clean your child’s teeth.

The PDA and the PCDS know very well that dentists have been successfully

placing amalgam in children with disabilities -- even under sedation --

for years. Both Dr. Chester L. Yokoyama, former Member of the Dental

Board of California, and Dr. Blanche Grube, vice president of the

International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine, have advised

that resin definitely can be used on sedated children. Hence, if these

PDA/PCDS dentists can’t implant any filling but this primitive pre-Civil

War device, it’s time for them to go get training! And even if PDA/PCDS

dentists are too untrained to place non-mercury fillings, what’s their

excuse for denying children with disabilities the basic dental cleanings

that would prevent cavities in the first place?

Since the PDA and the PCDS claim to support able-bodied persons’ right to

choose non-mercury filling materials while announcing support for forcing

the disabled to get mercury fillings, we have asked the Attorney General

of Pennsylvania to conduct a civil rights investigation, reprinted below.

Plain and simple, the sixth-largest chapter of the American Dental

Association apparently endorses discrimination against the disabled.

(Similar conduct by a North Carolina clinic has already been brought to

our attention.)

My friends, now I need your help:

1. Pennsylvanians: If you live or work in the Keystone state, or have

family ties there, or your organization has a presence there, please

write or email PA Attorney General Corbett:

Email:

civilrights@...

Mailing Address: 16th

Floor, Strawberry Square, burg, PA 17120

Fax:

Ask the Attorney General to conduct a civil rights investigation into

this despicable policy of the Pennsylvania Dental Association and the

Philadelphia County Dental Society. Explain to him that every

parent needs the right to choose non-mercury dental fillings because

mercury is a neurological risk, especially for children who already have

neurological problems. If you are a person with a disability or the

parent of a child with a disability, explain why it is important for you

to have the right to make your own health care decisions and particularly

why it is important to be able to choose non-mercury dental

fillings. If you share my outrage that these dental trade groups

would strong-arm parents into submitting to mercury by threatening not to

provide any dental care at all, tell him.

2. Dentists and other dental professionals: Please write PA Attorney

General Corbett (contact info above). Explain that sedated

children and children with disabilities can and do get composites. Tell

him that the PDA/PCDS policy’s goal is quick & easy profits for

dentists, because amalgam is a “drill, fill, and bill” material.

Charlie Brown

24 February 2010

G. Brown, National Counsel

Consumers for Dental Choice

316 F St., N.E., Suite 210, Washington, DC 20002

Ph. 202.544-6333; fax

202.544-6331

charlie@...,

www.toxicteeth.org

Working for Mercury-Free Dentistry

Here’s our request for a civil rights investigation …

Discrimination: PDA

and PDCS endorse the denial of all dental treatment

to children with disabilities if parents exercise their right to

refuse

mercury fillings, whereas these trade associations permit

able-bodied patients to choose non-mercury filling materials

The Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA) and Philadelphia County Dental

Society (PCDS) have endorsed a campaign to force persons with

disabilities to submit to mercury amalgam instead of offering them a

choice of filling materials -- a choice both trade associations openly

permit for able-bodied persons.

I. PDA

and PCDS promote able-bodied people’s right to make their own health

decisions

Everyone is in seeming agreement that individuals have a right to make

their own decisions about their bodies, especially decisions affecting

their health. In dentistry, this means the right of patients to choose

which filling material is implanted into their bodies. PDA and PCDS

agree, overtly advocating the patient’s right to choose on their

websites: “Many factors may affect your choice of filling

material” and “This fact sheet outlines the alternatives available and

will help you decide on the right choice for you.” The PCDS

even boasted that it “worked hard” to ensure that patients would be

presented with all their filling material options.

Increasingly, consumers are exercising their right to refuse dental

amalgam, a primitive pre-Civil War filling material containing 50%

mercury -- a known neurotoxin. In addition to numerous studies indicating

that amalgam can cause a wide range of health problems, the U.S. Food and

Drug Administration has recently issued warnings making clear that

amalgam is a neurological risk at least for children and unborn children:

" Dental amalgam also releases low levels of mercury vapor … The

developing neurological systems in fetuses and young children may be more

sensitive to the neurotoxic effects of mercury vapor. Very limited to no

clinical information is available regarding long-term health outcomes in

pregnant women and their developing fetuses, and children under the age

of six, including infants who are breastfed. "

Although FDA concealed this warning from consumers in a special controls

document labeled in bold “Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff,” the City

of Philadelphia prudently decided to inform the public about amalgam with

a required information sheet describing these neurological risks and the

inconclusiveness of scientific evidence.

Armed with this knowledge, consumers are deciding that they do not want

mercury in their bodies or the developing brains of their children. As

evidenced by their statements, the PDA and PCDS are respecting the

decisions of able-bodied consumers.

II. PDA and PCDS deny

people with disabilities their right to make their own health decisions

While able-bodied people

are permitted to choose the material being implanted into their bodies,

PDA and PCDS advocate a very different standard for people with

disabilities. In their joint written testimony, submitted to the

Philadelphia Board of Health on 11 February 2010 and presented at the

board’s meeting on 18 February 2010, PDA and PCDS endorse the policy of

Special Smiles LTD, a North Philadelphia clinic that denies all

dental treatment to children with disabilities unless their parents sign

a statement consenting to the implantation of mercury amalgam in their

children.

This policy abolishes the rights of these parents who do not want a known

neurotoxin implanted so near the brains of their children, many of whom

already have some form of neurological impairment. They are faced not

with the choice presented to able-bodied patients -- who are free to

reject amalgam and still receive preventative treatments and alternative

filling materials -- but with a cruel Hobson’s choice: either the dentist

will insist on subjecting your child to mercury’s risks or he will refuse

to so much as clean your child’s teeth.

With “so few facilities” equipped to treat people with disabilities,

there may be no other clinic for parents to turn to for this basic dental

care that would prevent many of their children’s cavities in the first

place (“Remember! Continuous Care Maintains Good Oral Health” taunts the

Special Smiles website). Boasting that he has the economic power to force

amalgam onto non-consenting patients in North Philadelphia, Dr.

Mramor of Special Smiles acknowledges that finding dental care for

children with disabilities after he expels the family is a

“challenge.”

III.

Dentists are able to provide people with disabilities the

mercury-free dental care afforded to the able-bodied, but PDA and PCDS

are unwilling to protect this same option for people with disabilities --

and promote punishing those who try to exercise their right to make their

own health decisions

Nor can PDA and PCDS justify this policy with the implausible claim

that their dentists are unable to place alternative filling materials in

children with disabilities. Not only have dentists regularly been using

non-amalgam fillings for patients with disabilities -- even under

sedation -- for years, but PDA and PCDS advocate denying people with

disabilities all dental care as a punishment for exercising their right

to make their own health decisions.

The experiences of dentists confirm that any claim that amalgam is the

only option for a sedated child with disabilities is patently false. Dr.

Chester L. Yokoyama is a former Member of the Dental Board of California

and co-founder and former director of Aiding the Medically Compromised,

Inc., a non-profit organization established to promote awareness of

dental issues for persons with disabilities. Having spent ten years as a

dentist treating children with disabilities in the operating room, Dr.

Yokoyama clarifies the situation: “Composites can be done under

general anesthesia or IV sedation. If the dentist is

unwilling to provide composites for children with disabilities, it

raises questions about denying such children access to dental

treatment. If the dentist is unable to provide composites

for children with disabilities, then he or she can seek further

training.” Right here in Pennsylvania, Dr. Blanche Grube, a dentist

practicing in Scranton, explains,

“We do composites on children who are sedated, and they work. A study

shows the difference between the wear on composites and amalgams is

negligible. Dentists placing amalgam make more money -- they make more

per chair per day, because they can rush through doing amalgam without

heed to the toxin questions.”

Regardless of whether their dentists have been trained to place

alternative filling materials in sedated patients with disabilities, PDA

and PCDS have no excuse to advocate denying all dental care -- even teeth

cleanings -- to people with disabilities who object to mercury. To turn

them away, knowing that they will have great difficulty finding another

dental clinic equipped to perform sedation dentistry on people with

disabilities, effectively deprives them of even the basic dental hygienic

care that would prevent tooth decay in the first place! This denial of

all dental treatment is clearly intended to punish people with

disabilities who dared to exercise their right to choose the filling

material going into their mouths -- the same right PDA and PCDS insist

upon for the able-bodied.

IV. Conclusion

The PDA and PCDS are advocating a policy of discrimination against the

disabled, going so far as to commend publicly dentists who refuse to

treat children with disabilities. The inadequate training of some

dentists must not overshadow the patent bad faith of a cabal determined

to strong-arm the disabled into submitting to this toxic 19th century

relic. A state dental association and a county dental society in the

Commonwealth have selected children with disabilities and their parents

-- already facing so many problems -- for this cruel ultimatum: mercury

fillings or no dental care at all.

(signed in hard copy mailed to you)

G. Brown

National Counsel

charlie@...

23 February 2010

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