Mercury: The Silent Epidemic is Killing American Dental Professionals, Part III

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 by: Aaron Turpen
Tags: mercury, toxicity, health news

(NewsTarget) In part 2 of this series, it was suggested that mercury fillings ("silver fillings," properly called amalgams) are a primary contributor to mercury contamination in our drinking water. There are two primary reasons for this: improper dental office amalgam removal/disposal and the mercury leach from fillings into a person's blood stream and its eventual excretion.

Every agency involved, from the American Dental Association (ADA) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), admit that the removal of dental mercury emits mercury vapor and particles and that removed amalgams are often flushed without separation into the sewer system.¹ These are often dumped directly into the waste-water system and end up in the public water supply.

Three agencies in particular, the ADA, the EPA, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), have all given guidelines and rules for dental practices to follow in the proper disposal of mercury fillings. Few, if any, of these suggestions and requirements are enforced and rarely are dentists even informed of the recommendations.²

According to David Kennedy, DDS, a dentist with over 30 years experience in practice, San Francisco, California instituted an EPA-based requirement for all dental practices in the SF Regional Water Quality Control District to use mercury separators in their offices. While the mandate met with a large outcry from the dental community, the result was that 90% of the mercury traveling "downstream" from the sewer system to the treatment plant was cut off at the source. The other 10% was mainly believed to be from excrement from dental patients laden with mercury from their amalgam fillings.²

That second source is another grave concern because it points to two distinct problems. First, it's a hazard to the water supply. Secondly, it is obviously a health hazard to the people who have silver fillings that are emitting mercury into their bodies. For those who work in the dental profession, as dentists, assistants, and hygienists, this is an even graver concern.

Former dental assistant Rebecca Dutton, whose newborn daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis - which Dutton is convinced was due to her own high exposure to mercury - says that "Mercury is the third most toxic substance on the planet and we are still putting it in people's mouths - yet the only place dental amalgam is not regarded as toxic waste is in a living mouth!"³

Despite the overwhelming evidence that mercury fillings are unsafe for both dental professionals and their patients, the ADA continues to recommend them and the FDA declares them "safe."⁴

That may be changing as new hearings at the Food and Drug Administration this winter will open to bring that question to bear, once again. Dr. Kennedy is hopeful that at least a partial ban will be in the offing, overturning the recent reversal, but says that with the way Washington works, anything more is unlikely.

"I find the machinations of Washington, D.C., where money speaks far louder than words, that they would make such as a determination prior to any testimony except, of course, from the ADA lobbyists."

Perhaps he is right, but as we saw in the last segment, a round-about ban could be achieved if OSHA or the EPA were to decide to actually do their jobs in regards to mercury contamination.

Given the lackluster performance of governmental agencies in the past and the current near-moratorium on health-conscious, mercury-free dentists by the ADA's licensing arm, it's unlikely we'll see change anytime soon unless the American People stand up and demand it loudly, on their own behalf.

Resources:
1 - Safe Removal of Amalgam Fillings, International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology

2 - Interview with Dr. David Kennedy, DDS, June 21, 2010 by Aaron Turpen, link to full text.

3 - Rebecca's Story - Mercury, Babies, and Suffering

4 - Mercury Dental Fillings: What the FDA and the ADA are not Telling You by Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews

Special thanks to NaturalNews readers Karen Palmer and Robert Reeves as well as the IAOMT for research assistance and support for this article series on mercury poisoning.

About the author

Aaron Turpen is a professional writer living in Wyoming in the USA. His blogs cover organic/sustainable living and environmental considerations (AaronsEnvironMental.com) and the science debunking mainstream medical and proving alternatives (HiddenHealthScience.com).