What You Need to Know about Mercury Amalgam "Silver" Fillings
by Gary F. Verigin DDS.; retrieved from http://www.biologicaldentalhealth.com/component/content/article/104.html.
For nearly 200 years, dentists have been placing amalgam fillings. Often called “silver” fillings, they're more accurately called “mercury fillings.” After all, they contain much more mercury (53%) than silver (35%), along with tin, copper and zinc.
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, second only to plutonium in terms of toxicity. As Dr. David Kennedy notes, with just four amalgams present, “the average person’s saliva is so high in mercury, they cannot legally spit into the toilet. Their saliva exceeds the EPA maximum legal municipal discharge standard for mercury.”
Despite mainstream dentistry’s wishful thinking, mercury does not become inert once placed in the teeth. The normal pressures of chewing and swallowing slowly erode the fillings. (Extra pressures from grinding, clenching or other chewing habits speed things up.) Mercury vapor is constantly released into the body's circulatory system and biological terrain, and builds up in organs such as the liver and brain. The ADA now admits that outgassing happens but still insists that the vapor is nontoxic.
Illnesses that have been linked to dental amalgam include chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis (MS), Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS), cancer, lupus, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other "enigmatic" and "incurable" conditions.
Why do dentists insist on using mercury when durable, aesthetic, nontoxic alternatives exist? Composites (white fillings) and other high quality, biocompatible restorations cost a little more than amalgams and take a little longer to make. Amalgam, on the other hand, is not so technique-sensitive. It’s cheap, quick, easy to place - and almost always reimbursed by insurance companies.
The more you know about the effects of mercury fillings on human health, the more you see how establishment dentistry has hurt people it's meant to help - not out of malice but ignorance.