>(Gordon
>E. Banks) writes:
>><text deleted>....  There is no scientific
>>evidence that amalgam fillings cause disease ...
>                                  ^^^^^^^nope, but poisoning, yes

>I got in late on this discussion, and after a search I can't find my files
>on dental mercury (just moved out here to the coast), BUT I feel I must
>set the record straight (as straight as it gets on the net :-)

>FACT ONE: Dental amalgam ( alloy of silver, mercury, copper, tin and
>sometimes
>zinc and other stuff) *IS* poisonous.  period. The question is *HOW*
>poisonous
>to *WHOM*.  Most people have a (demonstrably) high tolerance to it.  However,
>if you were a particpant in several experiments, run by medical schools,
>where people had their teeth filled with amalgam, nickel crowns, composites
>(plastic resins with quartz filler) and gold crowns/onlays, and had your
>white {*filter*}s cells analyzed; you would find that amalgam and nickel *poison*
>you (ie cause harm) by decreasing your white {*filter*} cell counts  (as I recall
>it was usually in the range of 10-20 %, but sometimes went up to 50-70%).

>FACT TWO: Dental amalgam was "grandfathered" into legal usage - it has never
>been the subject of serious bio-compatibility studies. BUT - neither has
>aspirin, which is in widespread use, and commonly thought to be safe, even
>though around 1,000 people *DIE* in the good 'ol USA each year due to aspirin
>overdose, bleeding ulcers, ....

>FACT THREE: Copper amalgam (as opposed to silver amalgam) used to be widely
>used as a bargain filling material - it caused such obvious problems that it
>was banned.  Look at yer periodic table of the elements, find Cu (copper),
>beneath is Ag (silver).  This means that their chemical properties are
>somewhat related.  Hmmmm....

>FACT FOUR: in most of the Scandanavian countries, many European nations
>and Japan, amalgam is banned or strictly limited.

>FACT FIVE: levels of mecury vapor above the OSHA limits have been measured in
>people's mouths who have lots of amalgam fillings, especially after chewing.

>FACT SIX: an artifact in *some* peoples mouths that appears after they have
>had amalgam fillings placed are dark coloured patches, referred to as
>"amalgam tatoos".  What is the mechanism? - I've never gotten an answer.
>Hmmmm

>FACT SEVEN: low level exposure to mercury, include dental amalgam, has been
>show to cause in *some* people a condition of tachicardia - rapid shallow
>heart beat, often with sweating, dizziness and pain.  no fun!

>well this is getting long, but you get the idea, so it's time for...
>COMMENTARY: the blanket statement that "amalgam is ok" or "amalgam is bad"
>is just as much of a lie as "aspirin is ok, it never hurt me"
>or "aspirin is bad 'cause people might suffer bad consequences".
>BALANCE, PLEASE!!!!!  People are histologically distinct individuals.
>(fancy concise way to say we are different in the way our bodies respond to
>substances - like bacteria, proteins,.... and heavy metals).

>As to the particular dentist in question - based on what I have read and
>been told by dentists, the use of composites for large fillings *is*
>questionable.  When I had my amalgams replaced (mostly cause they were
>falling out!) all the dentists I went to said, concerning several of my
>larger
>fillings, "too big for composite, have to use gold or ceramics".  From the
>half
>dozen or so dentists I've talked to, they *all* seemed to be aware of *that*,
>even thought their ideas on amalgam ranged from: "I never use it" to
>"I only use gold/ceramics/composite where warranted ie. many fillings or
>demonstrated sensitivity to mercury".

>It is unfortunate that there are zealots (on both sides of the fence -
>I have heard of some dentists who get very angry at the mere mention that
>amalgam is poisonous).  But that seems to be life.  It seems that accepting
>incompleteness in the state of medical knowledge and/or new information is
>too much for some people.  So they go off whatever deep end appeals to them,
>and stay there.

>It is most unfortunate that the dental community in your area seems to be
>in such a condition, worse yet, they seem to not want to police themselves.
>And its really a drag that you must turn to the courts - if you really
>can afford that, you could have found and paid for a better dentist :-(

>I asked a lot of questions and read a lot, even went to look up references
>before I had anything else done after I had an old filling fall out and a
>*bad* reaction to the replacement amalgam.
>I am very satisfied now, but in your area you might not have quite
>the choice or the personal recommendations that I did in Austin Tx.
>Also, I found that eventually my composites calmed down, and that lots of
>vitamin C (2-4gm/day) helped the pain - which it didn't when I had amalgams
>freshly put in.  The most comfortable things were gold onlays, then
>porcelein (though the dentist who did them replaced one of them with gold
>- for free - cause he wasn't "totally satisfied it fit the gum line
>perfectly,
>it might give me trouble 5 or 10 years down the road")

>My score: amalgam 0, gold 4, ceramic 2, composite 2
>You mileage *must* vary - cause you aren't me.

>Gary

>415-336-1966        Sun Microsystems, Educational Products Division