Yes

This topic has been covered before. These dentists never learn.
(I don't think they can).

http://www.vimy-dentistry.com/gltoc.htm#_Toc497374703

Please read this, Jim.

I am in possession of numberless cases of poisoning from mercury in amalgam
fillings. I will mention but one, and report one case from my practice.

The Dental Register, January, 1872, has the following case of poisoning from
mercury in a tooth filling:

A case in practice: A lady from one of the towns in Illinois came to Chicago
for treatment, having been troubled with dyspepsia and nervous debility for
two years. While under the physician's care she complained constantly of a
peculiar feeling and taste in her mouth. The doctor suspected the trouble
might arise from a rubber plate which she had worn for four years, and
advised her to consult me. Upon examination, I found a full upper plate,
composed of rubber, and on the lower jaw the molars were gone, except the
second and third upon the left side. In the crown of the wisdom tooth was a
large amalgam filling, and also one in the crown and posterior approximal
surface extending to the free margin of the gum in the second molar.

These had been inserted about two years previous. I noticed that the gums
and the mucous lining of the mouth and salivary glands were quite tender.
There was a strong metallic taste in the mouth, and a metallic odor to the
breath. She had a peculiar paralyzed sensation in the left side of the
tongue, which she had experienced for two years. She also informed me that
the saliva flowed so freely that at night her clothing and pillow were
saturated, and estimated the loss of saliva each night to equal one pint. I
suggested the removal of the amalgam fillings and rubber plate, and
substitution of gold. She assented to the proposition, and as early as
possible I undertook the operations.

Upon removing the amalgam fillings and applying the rubber dam, the saliva
flowed in streams, completely saturating several towels. After refilling the
teeth, and inserting a gold plate, the unpleasant sensation in the tongue
and metallic taste disappeared. At the end of two weeks the glands were
greatly improved, and the soreness under the tongue (of which she had
complained at her first visit) was healed.

It is the accepted opinion of physicians generally, that mercury uncombined
has no constitutional effect. Dr. Atkinson said before the meeting of the
American Dental Association in Boston, August, 1880: "You must combine the
molecules of mercury with some other agent before they can have any affinity
for the body at all. One who is familiar with the old method of making
looking-glasses, with tin foil and mercury, knows that the workman would be
literally saturated with it, so that he could not be capable of handling a
gold or silver watch without its becoming amalgamated, and all this, too,
without his health being compromised by the mercury so long as it remains in
a metallic state".

The correctness of this theory may be questioned, as it has been proven that
these workmen have been affected by the vapor of mercury, when not protected
by a veil over the mouth and nose.

Dr. Bartholow, in his work on Therapeutics, p. 177, says: "As used in the
mechanical arts, by gilders and others, the fumes of mercury cause wasting,
ptyalism, necrosis of bones, trembling, impaired intellect, and, in women,
abortion". "Walter Pope mentions a workman who for six months had not
handled mercury; yet he rendered a piece of copper as white as silver by
rubbing it between his fingers". Parish says that long trituration of
calomel increases its power to salivate. This is also applicable to all
preparations of mercury used with an excipient, medicinally.

The homeopaths divide and subdivide particles, according to the required
preparations, some of the radical members of the school claiming best
results from the highest potencies, while the more conservative
practitioners prefer a middle ground. They rub up pure mercury with sugar of
milk into six different grades, the first containing one-tenth gr. of
mercury to one gr. sugar of milk; the second, one one-hundredth gr. of
mercury to one gr. sugar of milk, etc., as before mentioned in this paper.
These are the finest forms in which mercury is prescribed, and yet the
severest cases of salivation and constitutional symptoms have been produced
by these agents, on account of their being so readily taken up by the blood.

Is it not a reasonable supposition that, if poisonous symptoms are produced
in proportion with the subdivision of the particles of mercury, that the
system will be more severely affected by the vapor of mercury, which is
finer than any mechanical subdivision can be? Dr. Somers recalls an instance
of a lady patient becoming completely salivated, the gums and mucous lining
of the mouth inflamed and teeth loosened, by taking a second bath, in which
forty grains of the black oxide of mercury were used. He thinks she could
not have absorbed one-twentieth of the amount in the form of vapor.

As a forcible illustration, I quote the experience of the sailors on board
the man-of-war "Triumph", which, in April, 1810, took from the wreck of a
Spanish ship thirty tons of quicksilver, contained in bags of fifty pounds
each.

In the course of a fortnight some of the bags decayed and burst, the
quick-silver mixing with the bilge water, the emanations from which coated
all the metal about the ship. Nearly all of the crew were salivated.

In order to ascertain the effect of the vapor of mercury, I have employed it
in a series of experiments upon plants and animals.

Experiment No. 1 -- While conducting my experiments in the laboratory I was
frequently visited by a family of roaches, who appeared to take an interest
in my operations. Suddenly they all disappeared, and it immediately
suggested itself to my mind that their sudden departure argued favorably in
the question of utilizing them in my experiments. I took four two-ounce
bottles and put in No. 1 pure mercury; No. 2, amalgam scraps six months old;
No. 3, fillings from two to ten years old; No. 4, fillings sixteen years
old. After placing a roach in each bottle, I tied a piece of cloth over the
mouth in order that the air might circulate. Evidently the bugs were not
fond of mercury, for they clung to the tops of the bottles as long as life
lasted. Roach in No. 1, containing pure mercury, died in three days; roach
in No. 2 was next to follow; roach in No. 3 lived a few days longer; and in
No. 4 outlived them all by several days.

Experiment No. 2 -- I prepared three bottles. The No. 1 contained ten grains
of pure mercury; No. 2 contained an amalgam filling three months old; No. 3
was an empty bottle. In each of the bottles I put two roaches. In two days
one in the bottle containing pure mercury died; the remaining one in the
same bottle lived nine days from the time it was put in. In the bottle
containing the amalgam filling one roach died in four days, while the other
one died in eleven days; while those in the empty bottle lived fifteen and
sixteen days.

Experiment No. 3 -- On February 9th I placed an amalgam filling at the base
of a sensitive plant. On examination, about the fourth day, I discovered
that the extremities of the leaves had changed color and were dry and
brittle, like the leaves in early Autumn; gradually the whole leaf was
affected, and at the end of ten days the plant was dead, notwithstanding the
care and nourishment it received.

Experiment No. 4 -- In a four-quart glass jar I put about four ounces of
mercury, and made a platform of wire gauze, fastening it two inches from the
bottom of the jar. I placed a Guinea pig in the jar, and covered the top
with gauze. Twice each day I removed him for exercise and nourishment. He
thrived well for ten days, but at the end of that time he commenced to
droop, and refused food and water. He became emaciated and trembling; the
body and limbs were cold. He lingered along for two weeks and died.

Experiment No. 5 -- I administered six grains of mercurius vivus, first
trituration, to a dog with his supper, and repeated the dose next morning
with his breakfast. The blood and liver were examined under the microscope
in the evening and found to contain globules of mercury.

It is the opinion of many eminent scientists that mercury inhaled into the
lungs produces a greater effect than when taken into the stomach. Among this
number Prof. Stille in his Therapeutics, Vol. 2, page 789, says: "Of the
several modes by which mercury is made to enter the body, inhalation most
speedily produces the specific influence of the medicine". Claude Bernard,
late Professor in "Le College de France", makes the statement in one of his
lectures. This is readily understood when we consider that the drug taken
into the lungs in the form of vapor is distributed over a large surface and
brought in direct contact with oxygenated blood, and thus carried to all
parts of the body.

Mercury taken into the system in small quantities, long continued, manifests
itself in a variety of ways. One of the first symptoms noticeable is an
increased flow of the secretions of the body -- salivation being the most
striking -- the glands becoming inflamed and the mucous membrane tender. The
gums tumefy and change in color to a dark rose tint; the tongue is swollen;
the patient not only experiences an unpleasant metallic taste, but the
breath becomes impregnated also. Sometimes extensive ulcers attack the
throat, gums and cheeks; oedema of the glottis, with difficulty in breathing
and swallowing.

The digestive apparatus is involved, with loss of appetite, nausea and
vomiting, and frequently pain and tenderness of the stomach; the bowels
loose, and often bloody stools. The fatty constituents are removed, and the
patient becomes emaciated; no part of the body is more affected by mercury
than the nervous system; the body trembles; sometimes one limb, and again
both limbs contract. A sense of coldness and occasional chills are
experienced; often neuralgic pains are felt, particularly around the motor
nerves; mental debility and loss of memory. These are some of the many
symptoms caused by the inhalation of the vapor of mercury.

RESUME

There are in the market many varieties of amalgams. Evaporation does not
depend upon quality or age, but all amalgams will send off the vapor of
mercury. This has been proved conclusively by its destruction of animal and
vegetable life, and by chemical tests. Evaporation is facilitated by an
increase of surface, consequently a greater amount of vapor would arise from
several small fillings than from one large filling.

The facility with which mercury is taken into the lungs by continued
inhalations and the rapidity with which it enters the blood, requires less
mercury to produce systemic effects than when taken into the stomach. In
order to produce systemic effects from metallic mercury, it must be rubbed
up with an excipient,to reduce the particles to a size capable of entering
the capillary system, or it must be taken into the lungs in the form of
vapor.