Q. I still have mercury amalgams in my fillings and am considering on having them taken out. I just wanted to know if the quality of mercury is higher than normal, like the mercury put in thermometers.
A. Dr. Dave must not have had a course in Dental Materials. The Mercury used in Amalgam fillings is triple distilled, about as pure as can be. That is not the point, after all of these years, there is still not a filling material that is equal to Amalgam in strength and as near as the same in expansion and contraction as the natural tooth when exposed to heat and cold. The amalgam is near 50% mercury as Dr. Dave said; but the other 50% is approx 40% silver, 2% zinc, rest is tin, nickel and copper. Free Mercury is not a metal to play with and as lead should be handled with caution by the Dentist and his Assistants. As it is called Amalgam, that means the Silver alloy combines with the Mercurey forming a crystinline putty like substance that if condensed properly will harden and leaving no free Mercury and is the best, by far, filling material available. Amalgam is not etheticly pleasing as other materials; therefore seldom used where can be seen.
what is the difference between amalgam and composite fillings of teeth ?
Q. By that I mean which one is better ?
If you are given these two options which one would you select and why
thanks in advance
If you are given these two options which one would you select and why
thanks in advance
A. ADVANTAGES OF WHITE FILLINGS:
* Since they bond to the tooth, composite fillings restore most of the original strength of the tooth. Silver weakens the teeth, making them more susceptible to breaking. Since broken teeth are very expensive to restore, composites can save a lot of expense over the long run.
* Composite fillings restore the natural appearance of the tooth.
* Teeth restored with white fillings are less sensitive to hot and cold than teeth restored with amalgam, if correct techniques are used.
* Composites are mercury-free. Mercury in the fillings is viewed by some as being toxic.
* Composites require less removal of tooth structure. Especially with new cavities, the size of the hole made for the filling can be dramatically smaller with composites. Click here to view photographs showing tooth preparations for white fillings as compared to tooth preparations for amalgam fillings, and see for yourself the differences in the amount of tooth a dentist has to drill away.
ADVANTAGES OF SILVER AMALGAM FILLINGS:
* They are generally less expensive. Composite fillings, if they are done correctly, take about 60% longer, require special expertise and expensive materials, and are more difficult to place, and so they cost considerably more than silver. Dental insurance companies will generally not pick up this extra cost. Click here for extra information about the costs of white fillings.
* General dentists can place amalgam without extra training. Composite requires the use of special bonding technology that many dentists are uncomfortable with.
* The proper placement of a white filling requires that the site for the filling be kept totally isolated from saliva while it is being placed. In the very back of the mouth, on some patients, it is difficult to keep the tooth isolated for the duration of the procedure. This can also be uncomfortable for some patients. A silver amalgam filling does not require this strict isolation of the tooth.
* The filling by itself is a stronger material, although it weakens the tooth.
* Silver fillings have a longer history of use than mercury-free fillings, thus some feel that they are more tried and tested.
One caution-the composite fillings can be seriously weakened by excessive alcohol consumption. If you have a habit of drinking beverages with high alcohol content (whiskey, etc.) on a daily basis, you may find the composite fillings deteriorating prematurely.
* Since they bond to the tooth, composite fillings restore most of the original strength of the tooth. Silver weakens the teeth, making them more susceptible to breaking. Since broken teeth are very expensive to restore, composites can save a lot of expense over the long run.
* Composite fillings restore the natural appearance of the tooth.
* Teeth restored with white fillings are less sensitive to hot and cold than teeth restored with amalgam, if correct techniques are used.
* Composites are mercury-free. Mercury in the fillings is viewed by some as being toxic.
* Composites require less removal of tooth structure. Especially with new cavities, the size of the hole made for the filling can be dramatically smaller with composites. Click here to view photographs showing tooth preparations for white fillings as compared to tooth preparations for amalgam fillings, and see for yourself the differences in the amount of tooth a dentist has to drill away.
ADVANTAGES OF SILVER AMALGAM FILLINGS:
* They are generally less expensive. Composite fillings, if they are done correctly, take about 60% longer, require special expertise and expensive materials, and are more difficult to place, and so they cost considerably more than silver. Dental insurance companies will generally not pick up this extra cost. Click here for extra information about the costs of white fillings.
* General dentists can place amalgam without extra training. Composite requires the use of special bonding technology that many dentists are uncomfortable with.
* The proper placement of a white filling requires that the site for the filling be kept totally isolated from saliva while it is being placed. In the very back of the mouth, on some patients, it is difficult to keep the tooth isolated for the duration of the procedure. This can also be uncomfortable for some patients. A silver amalgam filling does not require this strict isolation of the tooth.
* The filling by itself is a stronger material, although it weakens the tooth.
* Silver fillings have a longer history of use than mercury-free fillings, thus some feel that they are more tried and tested.
One caution-the composite fillings can be seriously weakened by excessive alcohol consumption. If you have a habit of drinking beverages with high alcohol content (whiskey, etc.) on a daily basis, you may find the composite fillings deteriorating prematurely.
I have had salty taste in my mouth since a metallic reaction after having a bridge put in my mouth What is goi
Q. Salty tatse is continuous, could this be cranial nerve damage?
A. It's very unlikely that a bridge could cause a cranial nerve damage. This is a possibility for nerve damage when they remove wisdom teeth but highly unlikely when doing work on the other teeth.
The taste in your mouth is most likely vapor from metals used to make the bridge. If amalgams are in your mouth, any dissimilar metals will cause the mercury vapor to leave your mouth 80 times faster due to the electrolysis that happens from these metals. Any metal in the mouth is bad and can cause many problems happen in the body. The mercury that leaches out of the amalgam fillings will damage your nerve tissue in your brain.
Go to: www.commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
That is a web site to the University of Calgary School of Medicine that did a definitive research project that showed mercury is a contributory cause of Alzheimer's disease due to the mercury that leaches out of amalgam fillings.
While not nearly as broad in scope as the European initiatives, the United States does have Proposition 65 in California as a start. This was initially passed by California voters in 1986 to provide information to consumers on chemicals that can cause birth defects and reproductive problems. The Environmental Law Foundation in Oakland, California, in San Francisco County Superior Court on December 14, 1993, reached a settlement with Jeneric / Pentron Inc. of Wallingford, Connecticut (one of the nation's largest manufacturers and distributors of mercury amalgam dental filling material) after legally contesting the purported safety of amalgams. In compliance with the spirit of Prop 65, Jeneric agreed to send warning signs to all California dentists who purchase its mercury amalgam products. The warning signs, earmarked by an inverted yellow triangle, and to be displayed prominently in the dentists' offices, will state:
WARNING: This office uses amalgam filling materials which contain and expose you to mercury, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Please consult your dentist for more information. Recently as well, the California State Board of Dental Examiners, by unanimous vote, approved a two-page document entitled "Dental Materials Fact Sheet." The purported intent of this document is to encourage discussion between patient and dentist in the selection of denial materials best suited to the patient's dental health, and it will be made available to all licensed dentists in California. The Board agreed that elemental mercury is a toxic substance, and it acknowledged that research has shown that free mercury can escape from amalgam filling and be absorbed by the body. The document even states:
Some elements contain in composites have been determined to be cytotoxic and carcinogenic.
The ADA is not your friend. In the early 1800s the National Association of Dental Surgeons actually advocated the elimination of mercury amalgam, but its cheapness kept many dentists using it in spite of its toxicity. This Association disbanded several decades later, and the precursor to today's American Dental Association (ADA), the National Dental Association, came into being, proclaiming amalgam's safety, although this was just a political statement then, as it is now, For the longest time, it was simply asserted by the ADA that the mercury amalgam (composed of approximately 50% mercury, along with copper, tin, silver and zinc) was a tightly bound chemical complex that would not permit any leakage or release of mercury. This was proved conclusively wrong by Vimy and Lorscheider in 1985 when they demonstrated that the air inside the mouth with amalgams continually contained elemental mercury vapor, and the dynamic of chewing increased this vapor level substantially. They further concluded that the amount of mercury released daily in patients with 12 or more amalgams either exceeded or comprised a major percentage of the maximal permissible dose of mercury from all environmental sources, as established by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1972 (although it's highly debatable whether a heavy metal as toxic as mercury should really have a politically derived, "permissible" dose). The most acceptable exposure would be the one most closely approximating zero. Gay, et al, published similar conclusions on amalgam mercury leakage even earlier in the Lancet medical journal. Faced with this information, the ADA smoothly shifted gears and asserted that, although mercury was slowly released from the amalgams, the amounts were too small to matter, completely ignoring the significance of the data and findings of Vimy and Lorscheider.
Your concern for nerve damage of the brain is very valid concern. If you trust the dentists to look out for you, forget it. The ADA has them locked up like kennel dogs and they cannot even express their true feelings for fear of losing their license regarding amalgam fillings, metal in the teeth, etc.
For those who may still doubt that mercury is really accumulating in their bodies from their amalgams, cadaver examinations have conclusively demonstrated that the greater the number of amalgams, the greater the amount of mercury found in the brain tissues. Just five amalgams increased brain mercury levels threefold over controls.
Based on available scientific data, the ADA has determined through the adoption of Resolution 42H-1986 that the removal of amalgam restoration from the non-allergic patient for the alleged purpose of removing toxic substances from the body, when such treatment is performed solely at the recommendation or suggestion of the dentist, is improper and unethical. (emphasis mine)
In other words, the ADA is telling the dentists of America that they don't have the right to counsel their patients regarding the poisonous effects of mercury, unless, of course, they don't mind losing their licenses to practice dentistry. Patient beware! Just ask your dentist and see what he tells you. You will be amazed.
The taste in your mouth is most likely vapor from metals used to make the bridge. If amalgams are in your mouth, any dissimilar metals will cause the mercury vapor to leave your mouth 80 times faster due to the electrolysis that happens from these metals. Any metal in the mouth is bad and can cause many problems happen in the body. The mercury that leaches out of the amalgam fillings will damage your nerve tissue in your brain.
Go to: www.commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
That is a web site to the University of Calgary School of Medicine that did a definitive research project that showed mercury is a contributory cause of Alzheimer's disease due to the mercury that leaches out of amalgam fillings.
While not nearly as broad in scope as the European initiatives, the United States does have Proposition 65 in California as a start. This was initially passed by California voters in 1986 to provide information to consumers on chemicals that can cause birth defects and reproductive problems. The Environmental Law Foundation in Oakland, California, in San Francisco County Superior Court on December 14, 1993, reached a settlement with Jeneric / Pentron Inc. of Wallingford, Connecticut (one of the nation's largest manufacturers and distributors of mercury amalgam dental filling material) after legally contesting the purported safety of amalgams. In compliance with the spirit of Prop 65, Jeneric agreed to send warning signs to all California dentists who purchase its mercury amalgam products. The warning signs, earmarked by an inverted yellow triangle, and to be displayed prominently in the dentists' offices, will state:
WARNING: This office uses amalgam filling materials which contain and expose you to mercury, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Please consult your dentist for more information. Recently as well, the California State Board of Dental Examiners, by unanimous vote, approved a two-page document entitled "Dental Materials Fact Sheet." The purported intent of this document is to encourage discussion between patient and dentist in the selection of denial materials best suited to the patient's dental health, and it will be made available to all licensed dentists in California. The Board agreed that elemental mercury is a toxic substance, and it acknowledged that research has shown that free mercury can escape from amalgam filling and be absorbed by the body. The document even states:
Some elements contain in composites have been determined to be cytotoxic and carcinogenic.
The ADA is not your friend. In the early 1800s the National Association of Dental Surgeons actually advocated the elimination of mercury amalgam, but its cheapness kept many dentists using it in spite of its toxicity. This Association disbanded several decades later, and the precursor to today's American Dental Association (ADA), the National Dental Association, came into being, proclaiming amalgam's safety, although this was just a political statement then, as it is now, For the longest time, it was simply asserted by the ADA that the mercury amalgam (composed of approximately 50% mercury, along with copper, tin, silver and zinc) was a tightly bound chemical complex that would not permit any leakage or release of mercury. This was proved conclusively wrong by Vimy and Lorscheider in 1985 when they demonstrated that the air inside the mouth with amalgams continually contained elemental mercury vapor, and the dynamic of chewing increased this vapor level substantially. They further concluded that the amount of mercury released daily in patients with 12 or more amalgams either exceeded or comprised a major percentage of the maximal permissible dose of mercury from all environmental sources, as established by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1972 (although it's highly debatable whether a heavy metal as toxic as mercury should really have a politically derived, "permissible" dose). The most acceptable exposure would be the one most closely approximating zero. Gay, et al, published similar conclusions on amalgam mercury leakage even earlier in the Lancet medical journal. Faced with this information, the ADA smoothly shifted gears and asserted that, although mercury was slowly released from the amalgams, the amounts were too small to matter, completely ignoring the significance of the data and findings of Vimy and Lorscheider.
Your concern for nerve damage of the brain is very valid concern. If you trust the dentists to look out for you, forget it. The ADA has them locked up like kennel dogs and they cannot even express their true feelings for fear of losing their license regarding amalgam fillings, metal in the teeth, etc.
For those who may still doubt that mercury is really accumulating in their bodies from their amalgams, cadaver examinations have conclusively demonstrated that the greater the number of amalgams, the greater the amount of mercury found in the brain tissues. Just five amalgams increased brain mercury levels threefold over controls.
Based on available scientific data, the ADA has determined through the adoption of Resolution 42H-1986 that the removal of amalgam restoration from the non-allergic patient for the alleged purpose of removing toxic substances from the body, when such treatment is performed solely at the recommendation or suggestion of the dentist, is improper and unethical. (emphasis mine)
In other words, the ADA is telling the dentists of America that they don't have the right to counsel their patients regarding the poisonous effects of mercury, unless, of course, they don't mind losing their licenses to practice dentistry. Patient beware! Just ask your dentist and see what he tells you. You will be amazed.
What is the European Parliament doing to ensure a healthier Europe?
Q.
A. Rules on recognition of health professionals' qualifications, on cleaner air, better quality bathing water, safer medicines for children and on use of mercury are some examples of legislation adopted by the European Parliament in the last five years. MEPs also made funding available for health projects under the EU's overall Research Programme 2007-2013. Extending patients' rights to seek treatment in another EU Member State is a major piece of legislation to be voted soon.
�Health professionals - recognition of qualification: GPs, nurses, dentists, midwives and physiotherapists are among the health professionals covered by new rules on recognition of professional qualifications. The aim of the legislation adopted by the European Parliament was to make it easier for professionals to provide services in another EU Member State, while at the same time giving host countries greater powers to check qualifications before allowing individuals to practise.
�Bathing waters - cleaner beaches and rivers: Parliament revised European legislation dating from 1976 and tightened up water quality standards of beaches, rivers and lakes
�Cleaner air: the European Parliament updated EU legislation to prevent and reduce air pollution. For the first time, MEPs defined maximum concentration levels for small particles or dust (known as PM2.5) which are the most hazardous to human health and can cause cancer and respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. The objective is to reduce concentration of these particles to 20 micrograms per cubic meter, but these indicative levels will be reviewed in 2013, with the possibility of making them obligatory
�EU funding for health research � �6.1 billion over seven years: the EU's overall research programme, adopted by the EP, includes a funding stream for health research projects. �6.1 billion has been set aside for health research between 2007 and 2013.
�Incentives for drug firms to develop child medicine: the European Parliament adopted new rules extending patent protection for pediatric medicines by six months
�Mercury bans: MEPs adopted legislation to reduce the use of mercury, which carries a high risk to human cardiovascular and immune systems and to the development of embryos. From March 2011, the export of mercury from the EU will be prohibited
Besides legislative acts, MEPs also adopted resolutions calling for immediate actions in several health-related fields:
�Fight against smoking � smoke-free workplaces: the European Parliament called on member states to introduce, by the end of 2009, smoking bans in all enclosed workplaces, including catering establishments, public buildings and transport, and also in children's playgrounds
�Step up against cancer: MEPs called for more research into cancer prevention and for nationwide breast screenings every 2 years for women aged 50 to 69
�Combating obesity as early as possible: MEPs called for measures to combat obesity early in life. Their recommendations included clearer food labelling, better food in schools and more school sports, restrictions on advertising unhealthy food, and VAT reductions for fruit & vegetables.
�Organ donation: MEPs proposed a wide range of measures, including a European donor card, to tackle the problem of organ shortage and organ trafficking.
�Health professionals - recognition of qualification: GPs, nurses, dentists, midwives and physiotherapists are among the health professionals covered by new rules on recognition of professional qualifications. The aim of the legislation adopted by the European Parliament was to make it easier for professionals to provide services in another EU Member State, while at the same time giving host countries greater powers to check qualifications before allowing individuals to practise.
�Bathing waters - cleaner beaches and rivers: Parliament revised European legislation dating from 1976 and tightened up water quality standards of beaches, rivers and lakes
�Cleaner air: the European Parliament updated EU legislation to prevent and reduce air pollution. For the first time, MEPs defined maximum concentration levels for small particles or dust (known as PM2.5) which are the most hazardous to human health and can cause cancer and respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. The objective is to reduce concentration of these particles to 20 micrograms per cubic meter, but these indicative levels will be reviewed in 2013, with the possibility of making them obligatory
�EU funding for health research � �6.1 billion over seven years: the EU's overall research programme, adopted by the EP, includes a funding stream for health research projects. �6.1 billion has been set aside for health research between 2007 and 2013.
�Incentives for drug firms to develop child medicine: the European Parliament adopted new rules extending patent protection for pediatric medicines by six months
�Mercury bans: MEPs adopted legislation to reduce the use of mercury, which carries a high risk to human cardiovascular and immune systems and to the development of embryos. From March 2011, the export of mercury from the EU will be prohibited
Besides legislative acts, MEPs also adopted resolutions calling for immediate actions in several health-related fields:
�Fight against smoking � smoke-free workplaces: the European Parliament called on member states to introduce, by the end of 2009, smoking bans in all enclosed workplaces, including catering establishments, public buildings and transport, and also in children's playgrounds
�Step up against cancer: MEPs called for more research into cancer prevention and for nationwide breast screenings every 2 years for women aged 50 to 69
�Combating obesity as early as possible: MEPs called for measures to combat obesity early in life. Their recommendations included clearer food labelling, better food in schools and more school sports, restrictions on advertising unhealthy food, and VAT reductions for fruit & vegetables.
�Organ donation: MEPs proposed a wide range of measures, including a European donor card, to tackle the problem of organ shortage and organ trafficking.
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