Amalgam Fillings – Toxic Beyond Belief

I went to my holistic medical doctor in 2008 looking for answers to some longstanding health problems.  I was no longer able to work, and in fact, my health was steadily declining.  The first thing he did was get me to change my diet – starting with cutting out processed foods and refined sugar – and get tested for food allergies or intolerances. He then advised me to begin removing toxic household and personal products that might be contributing to the chronic fatigue/fibromyalgic state that I was in.   After a year of minimal improvements he advised me to have my remaining three amalgam fillings removed.

I  had a total of six amalgam fillings.  The first three had been taken out by my dentist a few years before.  As far as I could see, he did not use any special precautions, and simply drilled and prodded them out.  I had no idea about the toxicity of amalgams at the time, and trusted his judgement. This was a decision that I deeply regret to this day. It was his idea, and I went along with it. Later on in 2009,  I was referred to a biological dentist for the safe and proper removal of the three remaining toxic dental fillings. At that point, there was only one biological dentist in my area.

The biological dentist used a suction, dental dam and continuous water flow. The amalgams he removed were replaced with white composite fillings. Unfortunately, he did not provide an external air source, and so I had to breathe the air that was contaminated by the drilling. It wasn’t ideal, but he was the best dentist that I could find at the time. Thankfully, many more have now been properly trained for this delicate removal procedure.

I asked my dentist, “Why are mercury filled amalgams still being used by dentists?”
His response was, “They are cheap and easy to do; even a monkey could put them in.”

Amalgam dental fillings

• I like to call them mercury fillings, since they are comprised of 50% mercury.
• Most people are not aware that these fillings actually contain  mercury.
• Mercury is one of the most deadly neurotoxic metals known to humankind.
• There are no safe levels of mercury in the human body.
• Each amalgam filling can release anywhere from 9 – 15 mcgs per day. This happens during chewing, drinking, teeth grinding and just breathing in their off-gassing vapor.
• Mercury toxicity has been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, lowered immune function, panic attacks, sleep disturbances, memory loss, chronic headaches, neurological symptoms, joint pain, candida, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s to name a few.

The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology have established proper removal guidlines for dentists.

Cut and chunk, keep it cool

Most of these suggestions are simple and obvious, common sense physical means of reducing exposure.  If you remove an old amalgam by slicing across it and dislodging big chunks, you will aerosolize less of the contents than if you grind it all away.  If you keep it under a constant water spray while cutting, you will keep the temperature down, and reduce the vapor pressure within the mercury.

Suction!

Your best tool for removing mercury vapor and amalgam particulates from the operating field is your high volume evacuation (HVE).  Keep it going next to the patient’s tooth until you are finished with the removal and clean-up process.  But check to see where in your office it discharges!  If the vacuum pump discharges into an open trap or through its own base, you could be pumping mercury vapor into your utility room or lab.⁸  (See also the Environmental articles on this website for information concerning mercury separators for your suction system, to remove the amalgam particulates and dissolved mercury before they are discharged into the wastewater.)

A highly effective HVE adjunct is the “Clean-Up” suction tip, which has an enclosure at the end that surrounds the tooth you’re working on.  It dramatically reduces the spatter of particles, directing them efficiently into the suction tube.  “Clean-Up” is available from the IAOMT, through the online store, or at (863) 420-6373.

 

Rubber dam or no rubber dam?

Some dentists hate rubber dams, while others can’t live without them.   A rubber dam will help contain the majority of the debris of amalgam grinding, among its many other benefits.  Berglund and Molin ⁹ demonstrated, as a follow-up to Molin’s 1990 study, that the use of a rubber dam eliminated the spike in plasma mercury one day after amalgam removal, as well as the spike in urine mercury ten days afterward: evidence of its protective benefit.  Of course both amalgam removal groups, dam or no dam, showed 50-75% reduction in blood mercury levels a year later. IAOMT sponsored research favors the use of rubber dam to protect patients from mercury exposure. Clinical experience, anecdotal reports of follow-up blood mercury levels indicate that the rubber dam with Clean-Up is better than Clean-Up alone, and is better than Isolite® as well.

But you must know that mercury vapor will diffuse right through the dam, and some of the particulates will often sneak past it, too.  So:

• Always use a saliva ejector behind the dam to evacuate air that may contain mercury vapor. Nitrile dams are better vapor barriers than latex.
• Rinse well as you go, especially under the rubber dam clamp, because amalgam particles left on the used dam will emit mercury from your garbage can.  (If you wipe your dirty mirror on a gauze square or the patient’s bib, that gray smear also emits quite a lot of mercury vapor!)
• As soon as the amalgams are out, remove the dam and thoroughly rinse the patient’s mouth before placing the new restorations.  It can take as much as sixty seconds of rinsing to fully remove the mercury vapor.  Search for gray particles.  If there are particles on the back of the tongue, have the patient sit up and gargle them out.
• Post-removal rinses can be used to scavenge mercury from the patient’s saliva. Some of the substances that can be suspended in water and used for this purpose are activated charcoal, chlorella, or n-acetyl cysteine.

If you don’t use a rubber dam, you must be vigilant with the HVE, and take frequent breaks to thoroughly rinse the field.  Either way, the “Clean-Up” suction tip reduces the  dispersion of particulates in the area.

Cover the skin

Covering the patient’s face with a barrier will prevent spattered amalgam particles from landing on the skin, or the eyes.  The barrier can be as simple as a moist paper towel, or as elaborate as a surgical drape.

Supplemental air

Provide the patient with piped–in air, so they do not have to breathe the air directly over the mouth during amalgam removal.  A positive pressure respiration device such as a nitrous oxide nose hood, or a similar ventilation device, is probably the best way to provide clean air.  A nasal cannula that admits ambient air won’t help.

You can find a biological dentist here at the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology.

One more piece of my healing puzzle

I was relieved to get these out of my mouth. This was one more piece of my healing puzzle that had to be dealt with. I was very sick when I had them removed. Picking the right time to have this procedure is always a tough decision. I felt that I just wasn’t going to heal with them in my mouth, and decided not to wait. I was quite disabled at this point and not strong enough to leave the house very often.  It was very hard to heal and detox in this depleted state. I went on to have follow-up DMPS chelation treatments, which unfortunately led to some extremely bad reactions.

I will write about chelating heavy metals in my next post.

Blessings and Best of health!

Brenda♥

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