One post to T was sent prematurely accidentally.

If dogzoo would follow up on dental his condition, hoping to have improved it
by email, everyone would be interested to know if he is better informed as to
his condition  thereby being better prepared to cope with it.

Gail

Have you been diagnosed with 'auto-immune' disease ?

If so which one ?

--
W_B

wubbabubb...@RBAGEyahoo.com
Take out the G'RBAGE

I was diagnosed with autoimmune uveitis 16 years ago.

Dr. Joel,

Ok maybe I was too general in the way that I asked me question. I
didn't mean it as in "Diabetes causes cavities". I meant more along the
lines that it seems logical that having a systemic disease would mean
that your teeth would feel the impact of the disease too. The same
blood that circulates through your gums, circulates through your other
organs.I also was not thinking about typical cavities as much as I was
thinking about a general failure to heal from dental procedures, i.e.
repeated failed root canals and apico's, recurring infections,
inflammation, etc. Why do some people seem to do just fine with these
procedures and others seem to have bodies that "reject" every root
canal and seem to have dental infections that do not respond to
antibiotics, ultimately leading to extraction of the tooth for pain
relief?If an autoimmune disease is essentially a body fighting itself,
wouldn't it make sense that it would fight off any other foreign
matter? I'm not trying to irritate anyone...just trying to figure this
out in my head.  thedogzoo

REPLY

I agree, but the townspeople are gathering and their torches are
getting nearer .....

They break because of malabsorption issues due to IBD and maybe other
diseases. I just know crohn's and I lost most of my teeth because of
malabsorption problems.  UM MOM Susan

 I have an autoimmune disorder, Cogan's Syndrome.  Each time the
disease went into the acute stage, I would ba prescribed very high doses
of corticosteroids (Decadron, Prednesone).
 Then my incidence of cavities went way up.
 I thought the steroids were to suppress my immune system and hence
lowered my resistance to cavities.
 But the steroids gave me a voracious appetite, especially for sweets.
 In other words, I had an autoimmune disease and then a lot of tooth
decay
--but what caused the cavities: the disease?  the cure?  side-effect of
the cure?  etc.
 Noam sayin'?

Dr. Steve,

"Teeth do not break due to autoimmune diseases."

You are right in one respect.  Perhaps teeth do not break due to autoimmune
diseases.   But on the other hand, I do not think Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis
are autoimmune diseases.  They are weird illnesses and are not known to be of
any certain characteristics that can be definitely called autoimmune.   Crohns
is a subject of much debate, in all aspects of its many features.
It originally was probably an unrecognized illness, (still is in many, many,
instances) then named Ileitis, and also called Regional Enteritis, all part of
the alimentary canal involvement.  Then as recognition of the symptoms grew,
Dr. Burrill crohns name replaced the others covering the entire spector of
symptoms.
Teeth are affected as well as any other part of the body, the weakest parts of
the body usually being the first to be affected.

Thedogzoo says he has uveitis. eye inflammation.  This is a symptom of crohns
also whether the doctor realizes it or not.
Others with crohns have eye problems, including Jeff,  Mary's husband, who as
Mary said has crohns and other problems that are not of the intestinal type.
Doctors did not realize those problems were crohns until later.
Nothing can be dismissed with crohns as it has no regular plan or direction of
symptoms.
I did write to Thedogzoo  by email with the hope that he was helped.
crohns group is waiting for James Stein to say whether he has had surgery.  I
hope he has not.    That is the quickest and easiest  way out, but not always
the necessary one.
One day it will be understood for what it is. a strange phenomenom that defies
science. A manmade illness.
Of course not every symptom is due to crohns.   The same symptoms can be of a
real natural cause, but as Jan says, if in doubt, rule out crohns.   It would
be equally unfortunate to attribute symptoms to crohns when they are not.   It
is sometimes difficult to know the difference.

Gail  

http://users.mrbean.net.au/~wlast/dental.html

http://tinyurl.com/5o68a

1: Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2003 Feb-Apr;24(1-2):65-7. Related Articles, Links  

Dental amalgam as one of the risk factors in autoimmune diseases.

Bartova J, Prochazkova J, Kratka Z, Benetkova K, Venclikova Z, Sterzl I.

Institute of Dental Research, lst Medical Faculty, Charles University and
General Faculty Hospital Prague, Vinohradska 48, 120 60 Prague 2, Czech
Republic. jirina.bart...@post.cz

BACKGROUND: Experimental and clinical data published recently show that dental
amalgam can give rise to undesirable immunological responses in susceptible
individuals. In genetically susceptible strains of experimental animals,
mercury and silver can induce autoimmune responses. Sera of patients sensitive
to mercury were found to have a higher incidence of autoantibodies relative to
controls. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine possible presence
of antinuclear SSB/La autoantibodies after the in vitro stimulation of
peripheral blood lymphocytes with HgCl2. METHODS: Lymphocytes were obtained
from patients with autoimmune thyroiditis and increased response to mercury in
vitro. Mononuclear cells were cultivated for 6 days with 100 microl HgCl2
solution or with pure medium and the levels of antinuclear autoantibodies
SSB/La were assayed by a commercial SSB/La ELISA kit. RESULTS: Increased
production of SSB/La autoantibodies in the media following stimulation of
peripheral blood lymphocytes with HgCl2 was found in all cases. Using the
Student's paired test, the results were significant on the p=0.05 significance
level. CONCLUSION: Results imply that, in some patients with thyroiditis,
mercury from dental amalgam can stimulate the production of antinuclear
antibodies. Dental amalgam may be a risk factor in some patients with
autoimmune disease.

PMID: 12743535 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.thorne.com/townsend/oct/mercury.html

Is Mercury Toxicity an Autoimmune Disorder?
by Keith W. Sehnert, M.D., Gary Jacobson, D.D.S., Kip Sullivan, J.D.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------

Autoimmune Disorders
The diagnostic arena now occupied by autoimmune disorders provides us with
terms that could be best described as "alphabet soup." Such problems include RA
(rheumatoid arthritis), HT (Hashimoto's thyroiditis), HAD (human adjuvant
disease), MS (multiple sclerosis), ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or, more
commonly, Lou Gehrig's disease) and MCTD (mixed connective tissue disease).
Should we now add MT (mercury toxicity)?
These conditions plus others, such as Crohn's disease, Raynaud's disease,
systemic candidiasis, diabetes, and even Alzheimer's disease are now believed
by many to be autoimmune disorders.
When patients are afflicted with such disorders, they come into their
physician's office with all, or some, of these symptoms:
· generalized morning stiffness,
· skin rashes,
· dry eyes and mouth,
· joint pain,
· immune dysfunction,
· axillary lymph node swelling,
· subcutaneous nodules
(skin bumps),
· neurological symptoms
(ringing in ears, burning and numbness sensations),
· chronic fatigue,
· depression and/or environmental sensitivities.
The clinical assessment usually shows a connective tissue disorder, the result
of the immune system attacking the tissues of the body. The immune elements of
T-lymphocytes, B-cells and "PAC-man" cells, instead of attacking bacterial,
viral and yeast fungal invaders, attack the cells of the thyroid (HT), joint
surfaces (RA), peripheral vascular bed (Raynaud's) or the skin cells with
patches across the nose and cheeks (lupus erythematosus).
There are no simple answers for this perplexing group of problems, yet insights
are beginning to arrive on the clinical horizon that may indicate why T-cell
mediated lesions are developed and a screening questionnaire has been developed
to help assess this problem (see Mercury/Toxic Metal Sensitivity
Questionnaire). Patients who score more than five "yeses" should be referred to
a dentist familiar with "silver" amalgam removal.
Any filling in the mouth that looked silver when it was new and is gray or
black now is probably 50% mercury, the rest being copper, silver, tin, and
zinc. There are numerous amalgam mixes on the market. They have names like
Dispersalloy®, Spheraloy®, Sybralloy®, and Tytin®. The mercury content ranges
from 43 to 54%.1 Although these fillings are commonly called silver fillings
because they look silver for the first few days of the eight to twelve years
they survive in the average human head, mercury fillings would be a more
accurate label. (And speaking of accurate labels, the origins of the word
mercury are both interesting and provocative. Mercury was the God of Commerce
in the Roman Empire and meant fabrication, trickery, thieving and slight
of-hand.) In this article the more formal term "amalgam" is used. The name
"amalgam" reflects the ability of mercury to bind or amalgamate powdered silver
and other metals into a hard filling.
Evidence that these fillings give systemic pathology as well as periodontal
disease exists. In one study it was observed that when 50 subjects without
amalgams were compared to 51 subjects with amalgams, there was a greater
incidence of problems in the latter group. They experienced greater incidence
of chest pains, tachycardia, anemia, fatigue and tendency to tire easily. They
also had significantly higher blood pressure, lower heart rate and lower
hemoglobin.2
A study in Canada has shown that pregnant sheep with new silver amalgams have
elevated levels of mercury in their fetuses within two weeks of placement of
the fillings. Further studies on monkeys showed the same findings. These
studies were done by Vimy, Takahasi and Lorscheider at the University of
Calgary, Faculty of Medicine.3
In addition to the reports from the United States, Canada and Japan, European
researchers have observed many adverse reports concerning amalgams. On February
18, 1994, mercury fillings were banned in Sweden for children and youth 19
years of age because evidence showed them to be a trigger of autoimmune
disorder.
Although mercury fillings have been widely used in the decades since, research
demonstrating that such fillings are safe has yet to be done. Research that has
been done and reported in scientific literature demonstrates that:
1. Mercury escapes from fillings in the form of vapor created by chewing. It
then enters the bloodstream and is delivered to all parts of the body,
including the brain. (A recent autopsy of an 82-year old woman from St. Paul
with confirmed Alzheimer's disease had studies done by the Mayo Heavy Metals
Lab. Brain tissue examination showed 5.3 UGIG mercury (53 times normal levels).
The pathologist reported "neurofibrillary tangle" in the brain sections that
are common in such patients. She had multiple amalgams.)
2. People with mercury fillings have higher levels of mercury in their urine,
blood and brain than people without fillings.
Another significant European development about mercury amalgams was reported
when Degussa AG, the largest producer of dental amalgams in Germany announced
it would no longer provide such amalgams because of pending and future
lawsuits. This was based on a Federal Court ruling that dentists who use such
amalgams face legal liability.4
Next came a series of studies by Dr. Catherine Kousmine of France, who reported
that illnesses like MS and chronic polyarthritis, both autoimmune diseases, are
triggered by silver amalgams. This is outlined in her book, La Sclerosa and
Plaques Est Guerissable (Multiple Sclerosis is Curable).
One more European study on MS comes from Great Britain. It reports that the
highest incidence of MS is found in Northern Ireland and the Scottish Island of
Orkeny and Shetland. They also have the highest incidence of dental cavities
and dental fillings. This provides more suspicion that mercury is a possible
link to autoimmune dysfunction.

History of the debate about mercury
French dentists were the first to mix mercury with various other metals and
plug the mixture into cavities in teeth. The first mixtures, developed in the
early 1800s, had relatively little mercury in them and had to be heated to get
the metals to bind. In 1819, a man named Bell in England developed an amalgam
mix with much more mercury in it that bound the metals at room temperature.
Taveau in France developed a similar mixture in 1826.5
When amalgams were introduced to the US in 1833 by two French entrepreneurs,
the Crawcour brothers, amalgam use was denounced by a substantial number of
American dentists. So strong was the opposition to amalgams that the American
Society of Dental Surgeons, formed in 1840, required its members to sign
pledges promising not to use them.6 It is an intriguing historical note that
the common term for mercury in Germany in those years was "quick silver." The
German pronunciation for "quick" is "quack." Thus, those dentists who used
mercury were called "quacks." This term has now come to mean anyone who is an
"ignorant pretender to medical skill" (The Random House Dictionary of The
English Language). In 1848, the Society found 11 of its New York members guilty
of "malpractice for using amalgam" and suspended them. Internal debate over
this issue led to the demise of the Society in 1856. Its successor
organization, the American Dental Association, sought to unite dentists and, in
its early days, did not take a stand on the issue of amalgam safety. The
Encyclopedia Britannica reports that "amalgams were not altogether in good
repute until after 1895," which suggests that the ADA was supporting the use of
amalgams by then. Despite the efforts of a few researchers in this country and
Europe to call attention to the dangers of mercury fillings, most notably a
German chemist named Dr. Alfred Stock who published numerous articles prior to
World War II,7 and Hal Huggins, a Colorado dentist who has spoken out against
amalgams for the last 20 years,8 debate about the safety of mercury fillings
remained muffled until recently.
The amalgam safety debate was revived in this country first by a 1989
Environmental Protection Agency declaration that amalgams are a hazardous
substance under the Superfund law,9 and then a December 1990 broadcast of a
program by "60 Minutes" that presented a devastating critique of amalgams. The
program created a stir throughout the country. "Switchboards lit up at the
state dental societies, dental schools, and the American Dental Association,"
said Consumer Reports.10 The American Dental Association got calls from two
dozen reporters. The publicity was the apparent cause of the following activity
in 1991: an FDA hearing; a conference sponsored by the National Institute of
Dental Research; and a call for a review of the research by the US Public
Health Service.
The dental establishment was furious with CBS. The ADA attacked CBS in the
January 7, 1991 edition of its newspaper for "the irresponsible ways in which
viewers were led to the conclusion that amalgam fillings are unsafe." To the
contrary, said the ADA, "scientific evidencesuggests mercury amalgam is safe to
use." The ADA newspaper published statements by Dr. Harold Loe, director of
National Institute of Dental Research, criticizing CBS for having "an obvious
bias" against amalgams. Dentists all over the country received information
packets from the ADA, including copies of the ADA newspaper and a 1986 article
from Consumer Reports. The ADA also promoted its message in a two-minutes video
news release sent to 700 TV stations on December 17, 1990, on its weekly radio
show on December 18, 1990, and in its journal, the Journal of the American
Dental Association.
The 1986 article by Consumer Reports pooh-poohed those who criticize the use of
mercury in fillings. The article concluded: "Dentists who purport to treat
health problems by ripping out fillings are putting their own economic welfare
ahead of their patients' welfare. Except for a few people with a genuine
allergy to mercury we know of no one who's been harmed by them.''11 Consumer
Reports published a similar article in May of 1991 which the ADA and the MN
Dental Association have also distributed widely. This article criticized
research showing that silver-mercury fillings are unsafe and concluded that
"amalgam fillings are still your best bet.''12
"60 Minutes" and the anti-amalgam movement have other critics besides the ADA
and Consumer Reports ­p; they include the Arthritis Foundation, the Multiple
Sclerosis Society, and the ultra-right Accuracy in Media13 ­p; but no one has
more credibility on this issue than the ADA and Consumer Reports. For that
reason, it is important for anyone trying to understand this issue to
understand the arguments of these two organizations and why their arguments
fail. The positions of the ADA and Consumer Reports are strikingly similar.
They cite the same sources to reach the same conclusion ­p; that critics have
not shown conclusively that mercury amalgams are unsafe.

Some Other Facts About Mercury
1. Mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive element on earth.
2. A silver colored mercury amalgam filling normally contains 52% mercury.
3. On average, amalgam filling weighs 1 gram and contains 1/2 gram of mercury.
4. The typical adult carries ten amalgam fillings containing about 5 grams of
mercury.
5. 1/2 gram of mercury in a ten acre lake would warrant issuance of a fish
advisory for the lake.
6. Running shoes with mercury lights in their heels were banned by the
Minnesota Legislature in 1994 because they contained a 1/2 gram of mercury in
them and this was considered dangerous to public health.
7. The use of mercury amalgams has been banned and are on a scheduled phaseout
in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden.
8. A proposition passed in California in 1994 requires a warning in dental
offices using mercury amalgam stating that "the people of the state of
California have determined that the use of mercury in dental amalgam causes
birth defects and other health problems." The proposition also requires that
permission must be obtained from a patient before placing hazardous material in
the mouth. (The new law is being contested by the ADA and California Dental
Association, and is tied up in Federal Court).
9. Legislation is now being proposed in Minnesota for a similar "Informed
Consent" legislation for all dental patients.

Conclusion
It is our conclusion that mercury toxicity is an autoimmune disorder. This was
summarized recently in an article in Advance magazine.l4 Its wide range of
symptoms can only be accounted for by multiple adverse effects on the immune
system, nerve tissue and connective tissue in general. The Mercury/Toxic Metal
Sensitivity Questionnaire has now been tested on over 200 patients and will
serve as a warning/alert to clinicians when patients have scores of "yes" in
five or more of the questions. Such patients should then be referred to
dentists with special knowledge of mercury amalgam removal and replacement with
nontoxic composites and dental materials.

Correspondence:
Keith W. Sehnert, M.D.
6200 Excelsior Blvd., Suite 101
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416 USA

References
1. Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Dental
Amalgams: A Scientific Review and Recommended Public Health Service Strategy
for Research, Education and Regulation, January 1993, Washington, DC, p. 1.
2. Ziff, M. F. "Documented clinical side effect to dental amalgams." Adv. Dent.
Res. 1992;1(6):131-134.
3. Vimy, J.D. Takahasi, Y., Lorscheider, F. L. "Maternal-fetal distribution of
mercury released from dental amalgam fillings." Am. J. Physiol.
1990;258:939-945.
4. Brake, M. "Sweden bans amalgams." The international DAMS newsletter; Spring
1994: 1.
5. Mackert, Jr., J. Rodway, "Dental Amalgam and Mercury," Journal of the
American Dental Association 122: 54-61 (1991) p. 54.
6. "Dentistry," Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.,
Chicago, 1960, Vol. 7, p. 225. The US Public Health Service states: "Questions
regarding its [i.e., amalgam's] safety has been raised virtually from the time
of its first use."
7. Hanson, M. and Pelva, J., "The Dental Amalgam Issue: A Review," Experientia
47: 9-22 (1991).
8. Huggins, Hal H., It's All in Your Head: Diseases Caused by Silver-Mercury
Fillings, 4th Ed., Life Sciences Press, 1990.
9. "Amalgam declared hazardous," Dentistry Today, February 1989, p. 1.
10. "Mercury in your mouth," Consumer Reports, May 1991, p. 316.
11. "The mercury scare" Consumer Reports, March 1986, 150-152, p. 152.
12. "The mercury in your mouth," Consumer Reports, May 1991, 316-319, p. 319.
13. "MS, arthritis groups get amalgam calls," ADA News, January 7, 1991; "CBS
spurs false hopes, false fears," Accuracy in Media press release, January-B,
1991.
14. Sehnert, K. W. "Autoimmune Disorders, "Advance, January 1995, p. 47-48.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/indexa.html

DENTAL AMALGAM FILLINGS PAGE

Bernie Windham- Ed.

The papers that can be linked to on this page have over 1000 medical studies or
Government Agency studies that document that:

1. Dental Amalgam Fillings are the largest source of mercury in most people,
and largest source of methyl mercury as well since other forms of mercury are
methylated to methyl mercury in the body by bacteria, etc.

2. Most people with several fillings get significant daily exposures to mercury
that exceed Government Health Guidelines for Mercury Exposure.

3. The main reasons for common high exposures of mercury and other toxic metals
from amalgam are mercury's negative vapor pressure which means that it is
constantly vaporizing plus the galvanic currents(battery effect) created in the
mouth by mixed metals that pumps mercury into the gums, jawbone, oral mucosa,
and systemically is carried throughout the body by the blood and nerves.
Additionally electromagnetic fields(EMF) from appliances such as computer
monitors and motors create currents in metal in the mouth that increases
galvanism and exposure to metals such as mercury.

4. Mercury is extremely toxic and the most toxic substance with common
significant exposures. No safe level where there are not measurable adverse
effects has ever been documented. However not all people receiving the same
exposure are equally effected and mercury toxicity effects depend on
susceptibility factors such as immune reactivity, systemic detoxification and
metal excretion ability, other synergistic exposures, etc. , as well as dose.

5. Mercury vapor or organic mercury readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and
the placenta to a fetus, and accumulates to significant levels in the brain,
CNS, motor neurons, hormone glands, and major organs such as the heart,
kidneys, and liver in direct proportion to the number of amalgam filling
surfaces. Mercury is documented to be extremely cytotoxic(kills cells),
neurotoxic, and immunotoxic, as well as inducing immune reactivity in large
numbers of people.

6. Mercury and other toxic, immune reactive, and carcinogenic metals like
nickel form strong bonds with the hydroxyl radical(SH) in amino acids which are
the body's main building blocks and cellular level fuel, disrupting the basic
metabolic processes such as the conversion of cysteine to sulfates, taurine,
and glutathione. The incomplete conversion of such amino acids results in toxic
metabolites such as beta-casamorphine and sulfites as well as immune and
autoimmune conditions.

Mercury also accumulates in the brain and CNS and damages nerve cells involved
in Parkinson's and ALS through free radical formation and oxidative damage.

Some of the autoimmune condtions documented to be commonly caused by
mercury(and other toxic metals) include oral lichen planus, Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome(CFS), Fibromyalgia(FM), MS, Lupus, Lou Gehrig's Disease(ALS),
Parkinson's, diabetes, etc.

7. Thousands of medical studies on humans and animals have confirmed the
mechanisms by which mercury(and other toxic metals) cause over 40 serious or
chronic health conditions including neurological, hormonal, reproductive,
immune, autoimmune, cardiovascular, & birth defects and developmental effects
on infants.

8. There are many thousands of clinical cases of cure or significant
improvement in these conditions after proper amalgam replacement and treatment,
as followed and documented by doctors. Some of the conditions that mercury has
been documented to cause and which people have been documented to recover from
after proper amalgam replacement or treatment include: periodontal disease,
oral keratosis(pre cancer)), immune system, autoimmune problems , allergies,
asthma, lupus, sinus problems, chronic headaches/ migraines, multiple chemical
sensitivities, epilepsy, blood conditions, chron's disease, stomach problems,
dizzyness/vertigo, arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Lou Gehrig's
Disease(ALS), Parkinson's/ muscle tremor, Alzheimer's, muscular/joint
pain/fibromyalgia , infertility, depression , autism, schizophrenia, ADD,
depression, insomnia, anger, anxiety & mental confusion , susceptibility to
infections , antibiotic resistant infection, endometriosis , Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome(CFS) , tachycardia and heart problems , memory disorders ,
cancer(breast,etc./ leukemia, neuropathy/paresthesia, alopecia/hair loss ,
tinnitus, chronic eye conditions: inflamation/iritis/ astigmatism/myopia
/cataracts/macula degeneration , vision disturbances, eczema, psoriasis, skin
conditions , urinary/prostrate problems, hearing loss, candida, PMS, diabetes,
etc. The majority of those treated for most of these condtions showed
significant improvement for most of these conditions.

9. Root canals and cavitations(incompletely healed tooth extraction sites) have
been documented to often over time accumulate extremely toxic anaerobic
bacteria which give off toxins that can have similar toxic effects in
disrupting enzymatic processes as mercury and to be a factor in some autoimmune
cases such as Parkinson's, MS, ALS, Alzheimer's, etc. Clinical trials have
found infections of locally asymptomatic root-canaled teeth and cavitations to
be extremely common, occurring in over 50% of root-canaled teeth and wisdom
tooth extraction sites tested. New tests are available for testing for such
conditions, which are commonly factors in chronic health conditions. Many are
documented to have recovered from such conditions after treatment. See
www.altcorp.com

10. Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome, Inc.(DAMS) (Florida) National web
site(www.amalgam.org) is a patients support organization for those with chronic
mercury conditions or who need advise about dental biocompatibilty/toxicity
issues. They have lists of specially trained dentists in dealing with mercury
and biocompatibility issues, and have issued several fact sheets documenting
and summarizing common mercury exposure levels, adverse health and
environmental effects of mercury from amalgam and other mercury sources.

11. Mercury and other toxic chemicals are accumulating in fish and wildlife to
dangerous levles. The number of lakes in the U.S. with warnings regarding
eating fish and wildlife has been growing rapidly and has reached over 50,000
(20% of all U.S. significant lakes), along with 7% of all U.S. river miles, all
Great Lakes, and many coastal bays and estuaries. The fish and wildlife subject
to these exposures are showing serious and sometimes catastropic hormonal and
reproductive problems related to the accumulation of mercury and other
endocrine disrupting chemicals to those at the top of the food chain such as
wading birds, alligators, Florida Panthers, minks, polar bears, seals, beluga
and orca whales, etc. People are also having widespread neurological, immune,
hormonal, and reproductive problems related to these common exposures. Mercury
from dental office and human excretion from those with amalgam fillings has
been found to be a significant source of mercury into the rivers and lakes
significant enough to result in warnings regarding mercury levels in fish, to
the extent that the mercury levels from amalgam results in higher levels of
mercury in the water of home sewers of those with amalgams and in most U.S.
sewer systems higher than the EPA guideline mercury level developed to avoid
accumulation in fish and wildlife and adopted by some areas for this purpose.
Thus the Environmental Effects of Amalgam Dental Fillings are seen to be
affecting everyone.

Home Page

Kids Developmental Effects Page

DAMS Page- Florida Chapter, Technical Documentation Page

FDA Amalgam Docket Review Page

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Page

Energy Trends and Emissions Page

http://www.dentalmaterial.gov.se/Mercury.pdf.

http://www.toxicteeth.org/old_web_site/facts.html

Filling A Need For Mercury-Amalgam Facts
By Jeff Clark & Sandy Duffy
Consumers for Dental Choice NW
(download printable PDF version of this article)

Dentistry has perpetrated an uncontrolled multi-generational mercury experiment
on the American people. Mercury-amalgam dental fillings have never been
subjected to the kind of regulatory scrutiny and approval process demanded of
all modern drugs and medical devices to prove safety. Only in the last few
years have controlled experiments with animals been conducted by non-dentists
in an attempt to estimate what we humans have already been experiencing over
the past 150+ years of mercury-amalgam.

The American Dental Association's (ADA) origin derives from the controversy of
using mercury for tooth fillings. Before mercury-amalgam became the standard of
dental practice only the rich could afford gold fillings -- the rest of us went
to the barber for tooth extraction. Mercury-amalgam enabled dentists to place
many more much lower costing tooth fillings per day. This efficiency produced
an ever-widening number of people who could afford professional dental
services.

The division that killed the original dental association and formed today's ADA
was between those who were concerned for the public's health from the poisonous
mercury release, and those who had dollar signs in their eyes [1]. Money won.

Until this day dentistry has used marketing, political influence, and control
of regulatory boards at all levels to impose its self-serving economic view
that mercury-amalgam is completely safe. The science that proves safety is
still not forthcoming from the ADA, nor from dental schools, nor from
mercury-amalgam manufacturers.

Marketing has long been dentistry's first line of defense for its use of
mercury. The true nature of mercury-amalgam has been disguised with the
soothing label "silver filling". Efforts to gain the public's trust and
confidence have imposed high psychological barriers. For many people
conditioned to trusting, it is too unbelievable, too egregious to even consider
the possibility that their dentist has been poisoning them with mercury.

Science has not been the driving force behind the ADA's public information on
mercury release. When asked about the safety of mercury amalgam the response
one always heard previously, and can still hear today in many dental offices
is: "once set, the mercury becomes completely stable and locked up, it doesn't
leak out". After it was unequivocally demonstrated that mercury vapor
continuously escapes from mercury-amalgam fillings the ADA repositioned itself
and now claims: "the small amount of mercury released from amalgam
restorations, especially during placement and removal, has not been shown to
cause any adverse health effects." [2]

This last position statement made in 1997 is the one we are living under today,
adopted by the dentists at the ADA, FDI World Dental Federation, and the World
Health Organization in a consensus agreement.

This position is at odds with what scientists independent of the dental
industry have been learning by studying amalgam mercury exposure and uptake in
humans and animals.

Mercury escapes from amalgam and is taken up by the human as metallic vapor,
metallic vapor and ionic mercury dissolved in saliva, and as unknown mercury
species directly through the tooth pulp and root into the bloodstream.[3] Ionic
mercury in saliva is converted to methylmercury.[4]

The more competent human studies on exposure have looked at the amount of
mercury vapor in an individual's mouth, mercury in their saliva, mercury in
their urine and feces, and compared that to individuals who have never had any
mercury-amalgam fillings. There is an extreme range of dental mercury exposure
and uptake from person to person. The high end of the range reaches 100
micrograms of mercury uptake per day in a single individual. That any
individuals can be found with such high daily mercury exposure and uptake from
their mercury-amalgam dental fillings is cause for alarm.[5] [6] [7] [8]

Animal experiments with amalgam produce further cause for alarm. There are
genetically determined susceptibilities to mercury-caused systemic illness.
Some animal strains are highly sensitive with quite noticeable trace mineral
disturbances and immune system activation after mercury-amalgams are placed
into their teeth. Other strains are highly resistant with only small
pathological changes observed in response to mercury-amalgam.[9]

In genetically susceptible animals mercury concentrations in the same range as
received from mercury-amalgams have been found to cause autoimmune disease,
inhibiting and disturbing immune system functions.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Mercury concentrations as received from mercury-amalgam are toxic to human
brain cells forming neurofibrillar tangles, amyloid placques and causing tau
phosphorylation in susceptible tissue cultures. [15] [16] [17] These three
phenomena are the primary diagnostic characteristics a pathologist looks for in
a deceased person's brain to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Mercury travels from amalgam fillings into the jaw, gut, liver, kidneys, glands
and brain, crosses the placenta to the fetus, and is found in mother's
milk.[18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

Dental mercury exposure in the genetically diverse and free living human
population has been an uncontrolled experiment. This makes it presently
difficult to prove in the absolute scientific sense that dental amalgam
directly causes human health conditions beyond contact allergy and oral lichen
planus. [23] [24]

This situation will change over time as genetic markers are identified for
predisposition to autoimmune diseases such as MS [25], ALS [26], Lupus [27],
and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers [28] -- allowing meaningful
mercury -amalgam case-control studies to be conducted within these susceptible
sub-populations of humans.

New diagnostic tests characterizing human immune cells are already showing a
strong correlation between immune activation against dental mercury and chronic
fatigue syndromes.[29]

Young athletes that die suddenly from Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy have
been shown to have 22,000 times as much mercury in their heart tissues as do
patients with other cardiac conditions. [30]

Meanwhile there is an ever growing number of case reports of people receiving
spontaneous remissions from a wide range of idiopathic maladies -- primarily by
having mercury-amalgam dental fillings safely removed from their teeth. These
experiences have led to the formation of patients' groups such as "Dental
Amalgam Mercury Syndrome" (DAMS). [31]

These case reports and the current scientific evidence cry out that there is a
grievous problem with mercury-amalgam dental fillings. The Hippocratic Oath
commits all dentists to the conservative approach of "first do no harm".
Mercury-amalgam dentistry has systematically not been living up to this pledge.
The ADA cannot now reverse its position on safety without admitting fault and
incurring enormous financial liability for itself and its members. Dentistry's
self-serving negligence and dishonesty with mercury-amalgam "silver" fillings
has put us and our children at risk.

The United States needs to pass laws to ban mercury dental fillings as soon as
possible. Until that legislation is signed, the public must have the right to
know about the mercury before it is placed into their teeth, to choose
non-mercury fillings, and to pay the same out of pocket fee for non-mercury
fillings as they would for a mercury-amalgam.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------

References

1 Hardy James E, D.M.D.; "Dentistry: Stepping Out of the 1830'S";
http://www.davidhoward.com.au/Article4.html

2 ADA Statement on Dental Amalgam;
http://www.ada.org/prof/prac/issues/statements/amalgam.html

3 Engqvist et al.,"Speciation of mercury excreted in feces from individuals
with amalgam fillings.", Arch Environ Health, 53(3):205-13, (May-Jun 1998)

4 Leistevuo J et al., "Dental amalgam fillings and the amount of organic
mercury in human saliva.", Caries Res, 35(3):163-6 (2001 May-Jun)

5 Skare et. al, "Human exposure to mercury and silver released from dental
amalgam", Archives of Environmental Health: 49(5):384-94, (Sept-Oct.,1994)

6 Weiner JA, Nylander M., "An estimation of the uptake of mercury from amalgam
fillings based on urinary excretion of mercury in Swedish subjects", Sci Total
Environ, 168(3):255-65, (Jun 30, 1995)

7 Barregard L, et al., "People with high mercury uptake from their own dental
amalgam fillings."; Occup Environ Med, 52(2):124-8, (Feb, 1995)

8 Langworth S, Stromberg R., "A case of high mercury exposure from dental
amalgam", Eur J Oral Sci, 104(3):320-1, (Jun 1996)

9 Hultman et al, "Activation of the immune system and systemic immune-complex
deposits in Brown Norway rats with dental amalgam restorations", J Dent Res,
77(6):1415-25, (Jun 1998)

10 Abedi-Valugerdi M, Hansson M, Moller G., "Genetic control of resistance to
mercury-induced immune/autoimmune activation", Scand J Immunol, 54(1-2):190-7
(Jul-Aug 2001)

11 Bigazzi PE., "Metals and kidney autoimmunity", Environ Health Perspect, 107
Suppl 5:753-65, (Oct 1999)

12 Bagenstose LM, et al, "Murine mercury-induced autoimmunity: a model of
chemically related autoimmunity in humans", Immunol Res, 20(1):67-78, (1999)

13 Johansson U, et al, "The genotype determines the B cell response in
mercury-treated mice", Int Arch Allergy Immunol, 116(4):295-305, (Aug 1998)

14 Moszczynski P, "Mercury compounds and the immune system: a review", Int J
Occup Med Environ Health, 10(3):247-58, (1997)

15 Olivieri G, et al, "Mercury induces cell cytotoxicity and oxidative stress
and increases beta-amyloid secretion and tau phosphorylation in SHSY5Y
neuroblastoma cells", J Neurochem, 74(1):231-6, (Jan 2000)

16 Pendergrass JC, Haley BE, "Inhibition of brain tubulin-guanosine
5'-triphosphate interactions by mercury: similarity to observations in
Alzheimer's diseased brain", Met Ions Biol Syst, 34:461-78, (1997)

17 Pendergrass JC, et al., "Mercury vapor inhalation inhibits binding of GTP to
tubulin in rat brain: similarity to a molecular lesion in Alzheimer diseased
brain", Neurotoxicology, 18(2):315-24, (1997)

18 Vimy MJ, et al., "Mercury from maternal "silver" tooth fillings in sheep and
human breast milk. A source of neonatal exposure", Biol Trace Elem Res,
56(2):143-52, (Feb 1997)

19 Takahashi Y, et al., "Release of mercury from dental amalgam fillings in
pregnant rats and distribution of mercury in maternal and fetal tissues"
Toxicology, 21;163(2-3):115-26, (Jun 2001)

20 Hahn LJ, et al., "Whole-body imaging of the distribution of mercury released
from dental fillings into monkey tissues", FASEB J, 4(14):3256-60, (Nov 1990)

21 Vimy MJ, et al., "Maternal-fetal distribution of mercury (203Hg) released
from dental amalgam fillings", Am J Physiol, 258(4 Pt 2):R939-45, (Apr 1990 )

22 Hahn LJ, et al., "Dental "silver" tooth fillings: a source of mercury
exposure revealed by whole-body image scan and tissue analysis", FASEB J,
3(14):2641-6, (Dec 1989)

23 Kanerva L, et al., "A multicenter study of patch test reactions with dental
screening series", Am J Contact Dermat, 12(2):83-7, (Jun 2001)

24 McGivern B, et al., "Delayed and immediate hypersensitivity reactions
associated with the use of amalgam", Br Dent J, 22;188(2):73-6, (Jan 2000)

25 Xu C, et al., "Linkage analysis in multiple sclerosis of chromosomal regions
syntenic to experimental autoimmune disease loci", Eur J Hum Genet,
9(6):458-63, (Jun 2001)

26 Robberecht W, "Genetic markers of ALS", Amyotroph Lateral Scler Other Motor
Neuron Disord, 1 Suppl 2:S57-9, (Jun 2000)

27 Graham RR, et al., "Genetic linkage and transmission disequilibrium of
marker haplotypes at chromosome 1q41 in human systemic lupus erythematosus",
Arthritis Res, 3(5):299-305, 2001

28 Poduslo SE, Yin X, "Chromosome 12 and late-onset Alzheimer's disease",
Neurosci Lett, 14;310(2-3):188-90, (Sep 2001)

29 McGivern B, et al.,"Delayed and immediate hypersensitivity reactions
associated with the use of amalgam", Br Dent J, 22;188(2):73-6 (Jan 2000)

30 MELISA Medica Foundation; http://www.melisa.org

31 Frustaci A, et al., "Marked elevation of myocardial trace elements in
idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy compared with secondary cardiac dysfunction",
J Am Coll Cardiol, 33(6):1578-83, (May 1999)

32 Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome (DAMS); http://www.amalgam.org/ 

Absolutely correct.

--
W_B

wubbabubbazG@RBAGEyahoo.com
Take out the G'RBAGE

www.nel.edu/pdf_w/24_12/ NEL241203A09_Bartova--Sterzl_wr.pdf -

it's actually been pretty warm, about 45 degrees.

Mary