[It is noted there is no mention about Line Dancing]

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Posted on Wed, Apr. 19, 2006

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No harm from dental fillings with mercury, 2 studies find
By Don Babwin
Associated Press

CHICAGO - Two long-awaited, government-funded studies found no evidenc
that dental fillings containing mercury can cause IQ-lowering brai
damage or other neurological problems in children.

Children with such fillings were no more likely than other youngster
to suffer such problems, the researchers found.

Some experts found the findings powerfully reassuring. But the studie
are unlikely to end debate over the long-term effects of what are know
as amalgam fillings, and some advocates accused the researchers of doin
unethical experiments on children.

Amalgam fillings, also called silver fillings, are made of mercury an
other metals, and have been used by dentists for more than a century
But their use has dropped in recent years as more doctors switch t
resin composite fillings, which are considered more appealing becaus
they are white.

Some advocacy groups and dentists have long contended that the mercur
in fillings can leach into the body and cause harmful neurologica
effects, including autism.

The latest studies were published in today's Journal of the America
Medical Association.

"We didn't see any indications of harm to these kids," said Timoth
DeRouen, a University of Washington professor of biostatistics an
dental public health sciences, who led a study of 507 children, ages
to 10, in Portugal to determine if mercury fillings had an
neurological effects. "And we tested them repeatedly over seve
years."

The other study, led by Sonja McKinlay of the New England Researc
Institutes, looked at the effect on intelligence, memory and othe
mental functions, and kidney function. It involved 534 children in Ne
England, ages 6 to 10.

McKinlay said she was confident that such fillings were safe fo
children in this age group, largely because the youngsters got far mor
amalgam than the average American child gets.

She also said that, while the study revealed that children with mercur
fillings had higher mercury levels in their urine, there was no evidenc
they had a higher incidence of kidney damage.

Neither study examined autism. David Bellinger, an author of the Ne
England study, said any children with autism would have been eliminate
from the study, as would other children with prior neurologica
disorders.

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research funded th
studies.

The authors acknowledged the limitations of the studies. For example
in the study of the New England children, the authors said th
"possibility of very small adverse effects of amalgam on IQ scor
cannot be completely ruled out."

Charlie Brown, counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice, an advocac
group pushing to end the use of mercury in dental fillings, said bot
studies ignored research that indicates mercury causes many physica
and mental problems.

Brown blasted both studies as unethical, saying that children o
guardians were never told of potential risks from fillings.

Authors of both studies disputed that, saying they disclosed what the
were doing and why

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Joel34