There’s an important anniversary coming up – important to us and our office and patients, at least. As of this November, it will have been 30 years since Dr. Glaros placed a mercury amalgam filling.
Several months after that fateful day, Dr. Glaros described his transition to mercury-free dentistry in our newsletter – along with the no longer deniable facts that informed his change. And today, there’s even more science showing exactly how and why mercury damages the body, why there is no good reason why this neurotoxin should continue to be used in dentistry.
Then there’s the Minimata Convention and its requirement that steps be taken toward a phase-down of dental mercury. No, it’s not a perfect document. It could do far more. But it’s a start.
The times, as ever, are a-changin’…
What I Know for Sure About Dental Fillings
From Bite-Sized Pieces, Easter 1985
I knew for sure that the mercury/silver fillings that I placed for my patients were fine dental restorations. The materials, the techniques, and the intention were state of the art. Rumblings from the wings about the safety of using a toxic material like mercury in the oral cavity didn’t bother me. My position was supported by 150 years of successful use of mercury/silver fillings and by the American Dental Association.
The current ADA position remains that the mercury in mercury/silver fillings is virtually stable in the filling, that it doesn’t release in quantities to cause any problems in any significant number of people.
I have joined a growing group of health professionals that strongly challenges the ADA position. Legitimate questions have arisen and the many answers are available.
- Are most people with mercury/silver fillings showing signs of toxicity? No.
- Do all of us with mercury/silver fillings need to rush out and have them removed because of toxicity? No.
- Is mercury a known toxic agent? Yes.
- Can toxic levels of mercury be measured coming off of mercury silver fillings? Yes.
- Have many people with heavy metal toxicity symptoms been helped by removal of mercury/silver fillings? Yes.
- Is mercury, as a toxic agent, giving the immune system of those of us that have mercury/silver fillings something extra to fight? Is it taking a little bit away from our wellness? Yes.
- Do I as a dentist want to contribute to something that can only take away from the wellness of my patients? No.
What I believe is that the ADA position would make excellent fertilizer for my grass.
In November of 1984, I decided that there was enough evidence against mercury/silver fillings that I stopped placing them. Bonded/plastic fillings have been developed and tested for teeth that would otherwise have mercury/silver fillings. Three plus years of good clinical success in my office gave the necessary alternative that swung me.
I have papers and papers of documentation that I would love to share with any interested patients. Please ask us about it.
Yours for better health,
Bill