“Do you know who is behind dental amalgam – the 50% mercury product that is leaching a neurotoxin and polluting our planet?” wrote Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice in a recent email.
One of the chief mercury polluters is Dentsply, a major amalgam manufacturer based in picturesque York, Pennsylvania.
So you never heard of Dentsply? Dentsply is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of all kinds of quality dental equipment – and all kinds of dental fillings. To remain profitable, Dentsply absolutely does not need mercury fillings.
But to be a good corporate citizen, Dentsply does need to stop making mercury fillings. Churning out amalgam for sale worldwide in relative obscurity, Dentsply appears oblivious to its environmental responsibility. Well, Dentsply can operate in relative obscurity…or it can manufacture mercury fillings. But it can no longer do both.
On 21 May 2013, I had the honor of joining a broad-based coalition of community members who held a news conference at the historic Yorktowne Hotel. We all came together to issue a wake up call:
It’s time to cease making amalgam fillings, Dentsply.
Hailing from all walks of life – from dentistry and health care to farming and environmental advocacy, from business and real estate to religious and academic – we unveiled a letter of support from more than twenty organizations, all calling on Dentsply to stop amalgam production. In addition to a number of outstanding U.S. groups, we were joined by our esteemed environmental colleagues from six continents. They express concern that Dentsply may dump their mercury product onto developing nations as American consumers increasingly reject amalgam.
You can learn much more about this “wake-up call” to Dentsply here and here.
When you think about it, it’s kind of hard to believe some dentists still use mercury amalgam despite the availability of better, safer materials…
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