Amalgam

[dukeeeey]

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According to the world health organisation

Mercury is highly toxic, especially when metabolized into methyl mercury. It may be fatal if inhaled and harmful if absorbed through the skin. Around 80% of the inhaled mercury vapour is absorbed in the blood through the lungs. It may cause harmful effects to the nervous, digestive, respiratory, immune systems and to the kidneys, besides causing lung damage. Adverse health effects from mercury exposure can be: tremors, impaired vision and hearing, paralysis, insomnia, emotional instability, developmental deficits during fetal development, and attention deficit and developmental delays during childhood. Recent studies suggest that mercury may have no threshold below which some adverse effects do not occur.

Then they go on to say

In 1991, the World Health Organization confirmed that mercury contained in dental amalgam is the greatest source of mercury vapour in non-industrialized settings, exposing the concerned population to mercury levels significantly exceeding those set for food and for air.

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/medicalwaste/mercurypolpap230506.pdf

So they admit if you have amalgams, the level of mercury vapour in your mouth is such that, if you were a place of work, you would legally be condemned under EPA laws.

My question for you people is this. How many patients do you hope to injure or kill by placing amalgams ?

And yes the FDA does say amalgams are safe, but they also say a lot of things are safe, lol.

The thing that bugs me is that the people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn’t. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it’s doing are as different as night and day. -Dr Ley former Commissioner of the FDA.

Here is a cool video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

 

[mike3kgt]

Don't get out much, do you?

 

[Streetwolf]

You joined SDN for this?

Also you are trusting a statement made in 1991 over a statement made 18 years later in 2009?

I agree with the poster above me.

 

[dukeeeey]

Are you trying to say the World Health Organisation report is incorrect because it's from 1991 ?

The FDA recently came out and said this about dental amalgam.

Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses. When amalgam fillings are placed in teeth or removed from teeth, they release mercury vapor. Mercury vapor is also released during chewing.

So they admit they release mercury. The question is, how much damage is acceptable to the patient ? What if you have 20 fillings ?

Even if you couldn't care less about the health of your patients. I think you might care what the occupational exposure of mercury is going to do to you.

Unsurprisingly Norway and a load of other European countries have now banned amalgam. Anyway why use it ? It's simply a terrible choice of material since it doesn't bond to the teeth and deep undercuts are required to make it stay in place.

 

[wigglytooth]

Every dentist and future dentist are educated about amalagams and mecury content. the amount of mercury, even if the entire mouth was filled with amalagam, is not high enough to cause any permanent damage. the most to be concerned about is occupational exposure from mercury vapor released during condensation of the material. There are many reasons to use amalgam over composite, two of which are the longevity of amalagam as a restoration (if placed properly, it can last easily 15+ years) and cost of placement to the patient (amalagam is less money).

I'm closing this thread.

 

[aphistis]

I'm closing this thread.

...and I'll do one better. Seeya, OP.