November 9th, 1998

Keep Your Mouth Shut - Tight!
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Increasing awareness of the toxic assaults on our bodies has resulted in the creation of an array of products designed to protect our health. We can buy air cleaners, water filters, and even clothing that will protect us from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Natural food sales are at record highs, and the widespread use of herbal and alternative health products has produced multi-billion dollar industries.

But in spite of this increased attention to preventative medicine, millions of us are walking around with what is considered by some to be a toxic time bomb in our mouths - our dental fillings.

Over 50 percent of the traditional "silver" filling material is mercury, one of the most toxic substances known. Mercury is a pervasive, deep penetrating chemical that is easily absorbed once in the human body. The brain tissue is especially sensitive to this metal.

Mercury, the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.

Chronic, long term exposure to mercury can manifest itself in the body in a variety of ways including nervousness, mood instability, tremors, abnormal reflexes, kidney damage, impaired hearing and brain cancer. Exposure can lead to infertility and result in birth defects. In acute exposure to large amounts, abdominal pain, mouth pain, vomiting, blood in the urine, difficulty moving and kidney failure often result. It is known to impair the functioning of the immune system.

Mercury has been known for thousands of years. It was found in an Egyptian tomb dating back to 1500 BC. It has fascinated people since its discovery, as it is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature.

Mercury has been used widely in the industrial age. Over time, tens of thousands of workers have suffered from it. In 18th and 19th centuries, mercury was widely used in the manufacture of mirrors and in the making of hats. It has been well documented that madness was common among the mirror-makers of Venice, Italy and the hat makers of London. We now know that those workers who inhaled the vapors and touched the metal were displaying what we know today as the symptoms of acute and chronic mercury poisoning. The term "mad as a hatter" originated during those times.

In December 1971 in Iraq, 6,530 people became ill and 459 died from eating mercury-tainted bread. The seed grain had been treated with a fungicide containing methyl-mercury before it was shipped from Mexico. The seed was supposed to be planted, but instead it was used directly to make bread.

Waste containing mercuric chloride (a catalyst in the production of plastics) was released into the bays of Minemata and Niigata, Japan in 1953 and 1960 and these incidents revealed the perils of mercury to the world. In a very short time, the metal worked its way into the food chain and caused acute toxicity in those who ate fish caught in that region. Although only 52 people died as a result of the immediate exposure to the chemical, hundreds of adults and their children have since developed degenerative neurological disorders characteristic of acute mercury exposure. An extraordinarily high cerebral palsy rate - 6 percent of the births - exits in the area.

Mercury use is still widespread today in dentistry and in the manufacture of thermometers, barometers, pigments, fungicides, insecticides and dry cell batteries. Fluorescent lamps contain mercury.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reported that mercury contamination in the ecosystem is pervasive worldwide. In fact, it turns up in very unexpected places. A sperm whale found dead off the Danish coast in January 1996 contained so much mercury and cadmium that its intestine had to be buried at a special hazardous waste site!

Karen Wetterhahn, 48, Dartmouth College's first female chemistry professor, died a year after being exposed to dimethylmercury in August of 1996. She was wearing latex gloves and goggles but a tiny drop of the deadly mercury compound seeped through the gloves.

No one knows for sure what effect mercury dental fillings may have on our health. But many people feel that their lingering illnesses are as a result of the small amounts of mercury that is released daily from the fillings. Mercury is known to suppress the immune system, so it is suggestive when people who have had fillings removed report the development of chronic symptoms common when the immune system is suppressed.

Don't expect much support for your questions from your average dentist. Even my dentist, someone who I have known and trusted for 20 years, thought I was overly concerned last week when I had to have a large filling removed after chipping a tooth. She assured me that her high powered suction device would get any residue. Yet later that day, I was pulling mercury filling flakes out of my mouth that had been thrown around by the drilling. I have felt poorly ever since, but who is to say that I am suffering from mercury poisoning, a reaction as the anesthetic is processed by my body, or just the power of my own suggestion. We are assaulted from so many toxic directions these days that it is hard to tell.

Getting rid of all your fillings may not be the answer, as this will definitely release the mercury in large amounts into your system. Containing the material during removal is very difficult. For fillings that you get from now on, it would be best to ask for the newer resins instead of mercury.

Mercury poisoning is yet another example of the pervasive onslaught of chemicals that has invaded our world. As consumers, we have the power to stop it by carefully selecting where we spend out dollars. Use non-mercury batteries, digital thermometers, and write your elected officials and insist that they work on this crisis.

Fighting this issue, as with all types of activism, begins by just opening our mouths - carefully.

RESOURCES

1. A comprehensive web site on the dangers of mercury fillings is at http://www.teleport.com/~ctseng/cfs_pages/index2.html

2. Learn about the basics of mercury at http://comptons2.aol.com/encyclopedia/ARTICLES/03121_A.html

3. See how mercury gets into the ecosystem and food chain at http://www.portland.com/mercury/mainchrt.htm

4. Help is available from a number of sources. Look for "biological dentistry," the practice of dentists who are concerned with this issue. You can also see a naturopathic practitioner. Many diagnostic tools exist that a trained naturopath can use to determine if you are suffering from mercury toxicity. A searchable directory of homeopaths can be found at http://www.healthy.net/pan/pa/homeopathic/natcenhom/nchsearch.htm and you can begin your research into Biological Dentistry at http://www.intergate.bc.ca/personal/sweet/dentist.htm

5. The Mercury Safety Products Company in England has comprehensive information about the hazards of mercury. Visit them at

6. Check out the Right to Know network at and their information on the toxic effects of mercury at http://www.mercurysafety.co.uk/mercdent.htm

7. Examine a report on the effect that mercury has had on native Indian tribes in Canada at http://www.cciw.ca/cgi-bin/mfs/01/emco/eman-temp/reports/publications/mercury95/part4.html

8. Read one person's account of his exposure to mercury in dental fillings at http://www.u-net.com/four-d/cfs.htm

9. Learn more about mercury in dental fillings at http://www.intergate.bc.ca/personal/sweet/metal.htm

10. Read about a study of the increase of mercury in the systems of people who had fillings removed at http://ww.total.net/~tsm/amalg/docs/beg94a.htm

11. Visit a website dedicated to mercury-free dentistry at http://www.mercuryfree.co.uk/mercury.html

12. Learn about mercury poisoning in the Midwest at http://www.wsn.org/decade/mercuryrain.html

13. A list of references to articles with information about dental mercury can be viewed at http://health.microworld.com/html/mercury.html

14. Things you can do to reduce mercury pollution can be seen at http://www.portland.com/mercury/consumer.htm

15. Read the worldwide concern about the spread of mercury at http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/edf/text/mercury.html

16. There is growing international concern over the illegal dumping of thousands of tons of mercury, used in the extraction of gold from ore, in the Brazilian Amazon area. Mercury toxicity has been reported in hundreds of cases in the area and contamination of the water table is likely. Visit Amazon Watch at http://www.amazonwatch.org/ to monitor this situation.

17. Keep your eye on corporations using mercury through Corporate Watch at http://www.corpwatch.org/

18. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Tell them to resist pressure from corporations and to support the EPA's environmental justice programs. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html

19. Learn about the issues. Seek out books on the subject. A good source for used (and new) books is Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon at http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/associate?assoc_id=212 where you will find a wonderful alternative to the massive chain bookstores taking over the market.