How Dangerous Are Mercury (Silver) Fillings?
One of the most controversial issues in dentistry today revolves around the use of silver fillings (amalgams) in our mouths. Do we need to take out the old mercury-laden silver fillings for fear of health issues and replace them, or are there better restorative dentistry options that do not pose any potential risk to our health?
72% of people surveyed in the US did not know that silver fillings contain mercury and when they do find out, 92% of the respondents would have wanted to know about the possible mercury issues when the silver fillings were first placed.
Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin and, at certain levels, can cause neurological issues, auto-immune disease, chronic illnesses and mental disorders.
Silver fillings consist of 50% mercury along with a combination of silver, tin, and copper. Studies have found that the amount of mercury vapor from amalgams varies from 1- 3 micrograms/day, at the low estimation, up to 27 micrograms/day. This translates to 3% to 68% of workplace air quality standards that are allowable by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, our federal environmental agency).
What this means is that at the high level – and with continuous exposure – we could be at levels that OSHA says are unhealthy. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the exposure to mercury vapor can greatly increase beyond this number due to personal habits such as grinding of the teeth, chewing gum, and drinking carbonated drinks. This could lead to a fivefold increase in mercury levels after these activities.
Mercury is a poison that penetrates all living cells of the human body. It is more toxic than lead, cadmium and arsenic.
A Danish study found that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients had eight times higher levels of mercury in their cerebrospinal fluid than healthy controls. Studies have also found that removing mercury amalgam fillings as well as detoxification and nutritional supplementation caused the improvement of 80 to 85 percent of MS patients.
There are exact procedures to remove amalgam fillings. What’s bad for your body is also bad for the environment, including the dentist who removes the amalgam. So any removal of amalgam fillings has to occur according to very strict guidelines.
Our dental practice follows those guidelines to the letter and follows the highest standards for amalgam removal set forth by the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology (IAOMT). This protocol minimizes your exposure to mercury vapor during amalgam removal, thereby protecting you from potential absorption of mercury into your system.
Mercury-Free Dentistry offers you many benefits:
- Environmentally Friendly
- Composites bond to the teeth making tooth structure stronger
- Reduces the risk for cracked and sensitive teeth.
If you have amalgam fillings and want to eradicate the hazard they pose to your health, come to our office for a free consultation. After all, your health is worth more than anything in the world, so take this step to a much healthier life!