Assure a Smile has compiled the latest research that illustrates how mercury from silver amalgam fillings is absorbed into the body, and why it is important to replace silver fillings with white composite fillings. This research indicates that mercury is unstable, vaporizes at room temperature, and accumulates within the body to cause severe damage.
Comments by Dr. Ted Herrmann:
Our Miami Dentistry blog has recently covered the toxic affects of silver amalgam fillings, suggesting that these fillings be removed and replaced. Now, we will examine precisely how mercury vapor from dental amalgams gets absorbed into the body.
Dental Amalgam and Mercury Exposure
Mercury is naturally in a gaseous state at room temperature; mercury in the dental amalgam in teeth likewise vaporizes slowly due to the warmth of the oral cavity. Once dispersed into the oral cavity, mercury vapor mixes with saliva and becomes easily transported through the mucous membranes of the mouth, into the blood stream, and is trafficked throughout the body (i). In this way, individuals with silver fillings receive more exposure to mercury from those fillings than from any other source combined (ii).
Measuring Mercury Poisoning
The easiest way to understand mercury poisoning is to contrast individuals with several dental amalgam fillings with individuals who have none. Doctors Data Incorporated of Chicago, Illinois, measured the saliva of subjects who had silver amalgam fillings and compared it to subjects who had no amalgam fillings. Their research indicated that patients with silver amalgam fillings had an astonishing 10 times more mercury in their saliva than did patients who had no silver amalgam fillings (iii).
As research begins to mount, Miami dentists will continue to urge patients to consider safe mercury filling removal procedures to extract this poisonous material from their mouths. Replacing silver amalgam fillings with white composite fillings is by far the most effective way to greatly reduce mercury exposure.
(i) The battery in your mouth: oral galvanic currents and metals in the mouth, and interactions with EMF, www.flcv.com/galv.html
(ii) Mark Richardson, Assessment of Mercury Exposure and Risks from Dental Amalgam, 1995, Final Report.
(iii) Doctors Data Inc.; Fecal Elements Test; P.O.Box 111, West Chicago, Illinois, 60186-0111; http://www.doctorsdata.com/repository.asp?id=43 ; & Biospectron Lab, LMI, Lennart Mansson International AB, lmi.analyslab@swipnet.se; http://home.swipnet.se/misac/research11.html#biospectrons
