I have had some experience with "60 Minutes" reportage.  Here's MHO:

"60 Minutes" exists to sell advertising slots on national television,
period.  Accurate, unbiased reporting of facts is a distant second to the
primary goal, if it's considered at all.  If necessary, their "reporters"
will distort, misstate or just plain ignore the truth of a situation in
order to manufacture controversy and get the audience's adrenalin flowing.
That's what generates audience share.  Many people who've watched a "60
Minutes" segment touching on their area of expertise will be happy to tell
you horror stories of how they got it all wrong.

I've occasionally written to "60 Minutes" to point out obvious flaws in
their reporting.  Once they sent me back a form letter saying,
essentially, they were satisfied with their presentation and not
interested in my comments.

In other words, I'm not about to have all my fillings replaced just
because "60 Minutes" wants to pretend the sky is falling.

--

Head Robot Wrangler at Citicorp(+)TTI             Illegitimis non
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (213) 450-9111, x2483       Carborundum
Santa Monica, CA  90405 {csun | philabs | psivax}!ttidca!hollombe

I asked my father (a dentist) about this a few years ago, and his
response was that the mercury forms an amalgam with the silver, and is
not problem.  He said that even if a patient were to swallow pure
mercury it would not cause any medical problem - mercury is not
absorbed by the digestive system.  (This assumes that there are no
impurities in the mercury.  All of his is labeled triple distilled.)
The danger is absorption into the respiratory or circulatory systems.
If the patient had break in the {*filter*}mucosa, which was well exposed to
pure mercury, it might be a problem.

A long time ago, the "hatters" used to shine the hats with mercury.
It used to give them a really nice shine.  After many years, the
exposure to vapors would cause some form of dementia and thus we have
the phrase "mad as a hatter."

As for mercury being released when you chew, this is MOST prominent
during the first 60 minutes that the filling is in place, hence the
orders not to chew for an hour.  (This is also so as not to deform the
hardening material.)  While some mercury may be liberated every time
you chew, I'd be willing to bet that if you vaporized 50% of all of
the mercury in all of your fillings, it still wouldn't cause a
problem.  Cavities themselves aren't THAT big, and don't have that
much mercury.

IMHO, the amount of mercury being discussed here is not even close to
the amounts that cause problems.  Then again, I don't have morbidity
or LD50 numbers on mercury.

PS- there are significant disadvantages to the alternatives.  Gold
fillings are also mercury amalgams, and the plastic fillings don't
hold up well.

** BIG TIME DISCLAIMER ** This is my first post to sci.med.  I was
going to leave this topic for a "qualified" person to answer, but one
hasn't yet.  All of the above information was gleaned from a
conversation with my father a few years ago.  While he's quite a
bright guy, neither is he the Merck's Manual with legs.

-Larry Nathanson

    __!__     A soul in tension that's learning to fly |'| Larry Nathanson    
 -----o-----  Condition grounded but determined to try |'| 617 266 7419        
     " "      Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky |'| 726 Comm Ave. #5J
Tounge-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I |^| Boston, Mass  02215

~~~~~~~~~ Kevin Gamble ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ Oregon State University ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--
Russell Lawrence, WP Group, New Orleans (504) 443-5000

The measurements of Mercury in the patients' mouths may not be meaningful.  
There are many different compounds containing Mercury, and I suspect there are
different ionic forms of Mercury.  Do all have the same toxic potential?  Are
all absorbed to the same degree?  Why were no {*filter*} levels done to determine
how much Mercury these people had in their {*filter*}stream?

Simple cures for complex problems rarely are the real answer.  

--  
Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!132!301!Rich.Sagall