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Mercury Removal

Many consumers are still not aware that the 'silver' filings do contain substantial amounts of mercury, one of the most toxic substances on earth. In fact, when you do the breakdown, 50% of the silver fillings are mercury, 35% is silver, Tin is 10% and the rest is copper and other trace metals.

Many dentists will argue that Mercury filings are perfecty safe. Yet, all dentists are fully aware of the warnings around mercury amalgam. When the mercury amalgam arrives in the Dental Office, the boxes have large warning signs on them to prevent the dentists from getting exposure to the mercury. Kerr Corporation one of the largest amalgam manufacturers was recenty sued by a dentist in the US over exposure to dental mercury. Kerr pointed to the warning sign on their product, and the full text of the warning which reads:

"WARNING ... Alloy amalgam capsule products contain mercury. Since mercury is a potentially hazardous substance, proper care should be taken to prevent exposure to mercury. These preventative measures include the wearing of gloves, good ventilation, the use of an enclosed amalgamator, proper disposal of capsules once they have been activated and used, and the use of HGX or similar-type mercury absorbing chemicals in the event of spillage. Infrequently capsules may leak mercury and, as a consequence, the above precautionary measures should always be utilized."

Kerr did not advise on the proper disposal of this hazardous material. They could have said: "Just place small amounts of the material in the dental cavities of your patients until it all runs out, and then re-order." Dentists will argue that the amalgam binds with the mercury, and so does not release vapours when inserted into the patients. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the exact toxicity released by the mercury, what is the point of taking any risk whatsoever, when much better looking, non-toxic alternatives are clearly available?

What to do about older mercury amalgam fillings?

There are two schools of thought about older fillings. One is to leave them if they are not causing any problems. Removing the fillings will inevitably result in the mercury releasing vapour and could also results in you swallowing the entire mercury filling if the dentist is careless or unlucky as he or she removes the filling. Over time just replace all the fillings one by one until you no longer have any amalgam fillings left.

The other thought is to remove them all as quickly as possible, to stop any on-going toxicity and start reversing the effects of the mercury on the body burden as quickly as possible. Several studies have been performed on mercury amalgams that have fallen out after years of service. By using sophisticated analysis, the studies show that over 60% of the mercury leached out over a nine year period. Shocking stuff. For More on mercury removal see here