fulford@altos.dec.com (07/30/86)
I have been hearing much about the dangers of Mercury in Amalgum
fillings (tooth cavity) lately. Before I go and have my whole
mouth redone with the modern ceramic type fillings, I wanted to
get some facts. Has anyone heard or done any work in this area?
Here is all I know so far:
We all know (or should know) about Mercurys high toxicity. Until
recently fillings were almost all Amalgum. I'm not sure what this
is but I have heard that it is an alloy of Silver, Mercury, and other
metals. Over the years the Mercury will seep out into the body and
reak havoc. It's toxicity is mostly dependant on the bodies general
state of health and ability to eliminate such substances. Mercury is
so toxic that it's dosage is measured in parts per million.
My questions are:
(1) What is the concentration of Mercury in the fillings?
(2) How stable is this metal alloy? In other words, how much pure
Mercury is avaliable to seep out into the body?
(3) How long does it take for the Mercury to totally seep out into
the body to a point where it is totally dissipated and your
fillings can no longer do harm. In other words, what is it's
toxic half life in the mouth?
(4) How safe are the modern ceramics? I'd hate to switch from Cyanide
to Arsenic!
(5) I know that other metals are also toxic. What about the rest of the
alloy? Silver being the highest percentage, what is it's toxicity?
I know that it can't be a health plus.
(6) How much metal can a healthy body eliminate and what nutrients can
enhance this?
(7) I haven't had any problems with my metal fillings. Can the ceramics
make the same reliability claim?
(8) What exactly is in Amalgum and what time period was it used? My
fillings were installed from 1960 - 1970.
Any info is appreciated, thanks in advance.darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman) (08/02/86)
About mercury amalgam fillings... There was a report in Consumer's Reports a few months ago. Apparantly there are a number of unscrupulous dentists out there trying to get people to replace all of their fillings, which of course leads to lots of dental work -> lots of dental profit. CR claimed that there is no proof that mercury amalgam fillings have any toxicity for the user, although dentists, whose exposure is quite a bit higher, must be careful. BTW, the replacement fillings are not as long lasting as amalgam, and often need replacing within 5 years. --Darryl Richman, INTERACTIVE Systems Corp. ...!cca!ima!ism780!darryl The views expressed above are my opinions only.