The lawsuit brought by Moms Against Mercury against the FDA has now gone to the Court of Appeals. In it’s brief to the court, the FDA admitted five times that it doesn’t know if mercury fillings are safe or unsafe. A joint meeting of the Dental Products Panel and the Central Nervous System Drugs advisory Committee of the FDA met last September to review scientific literature on the potential neurological effects of mercury in dental amalgam.
The panel voted 13 to seven to reject the FDA’s conclusion that amalgam was safe and that it’s safety could not be established based on the data provided. Despite the longstanding claim of organized dentistry, the tide is turning against the use of mercury in dental fillings. Mercury makes up about 50 percent of a typical silver filling.
I just returned from the biannual meeting of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT). This is a group composed of dentists, physicians and medical research scientists who examine the science behind mercury and it’s toxicity, rather than relying on it’s historical usage. We are all aware of too much mercury in fish and there is a growing concern of dental mercury waste getting into our drains and the ecosystem. Dentists are urged to install traps to catch mercury-filling waste that comes out of your teeth and it is then removed by a licensed toxic waste hauler. Even with these known concerns, it is an uphill battle to remove it from dental use.
As an alert consumer, how does all this affect you? You are entitled to know what materials will be used in your mouth. While no government body in this country has said that mercury fillings are unsafe, you must do the research and decide for yourself. Mercury usage is declining anyway, as more dentists use cosmetic fillings made of resin. But mercury fillings are still considered the standard of care and frequently placed in patients who want the lowest cost care and are not concerned with cosmetic white fillings. Even if you choose only white fillings or crowns (crowns have no mercury in them) you probably still have many old mercury fillings. I urge you to go to iaomt.org and watch the short video Smoking Teeth. It is amazing.
The IAOMT and several other organizations have protocols for removing old mercury fillings without releasing clouds of vapor for you to breathe in during the replacement of these fillings. For the biological dentist, this is a key aspect of filling removal. If the fillings are being removed to remove the mercury, it makes sense not to overdose the patient with vapor while doing it.
For more information, please call Dr. Forman at 818-254-7003.