During this
Mercury-Free Dentistry Week, we highlight those who stand firm against
amalgam: the mercury-free dentists of the world. We salute these
pioneers for challenging the dental industry’s abhorrent policy of
dumping mercury into the bodies and environment of American families
Consumers for
Dental Choice ended dental board oppression of mercury-free dentists by
the notorious “gag rule,” which attempted to mandate silence rather than
disclosure by dentists
Most dentists
continue to stand silent. Only 11% of consumers have been told that
amalgam fillings have mercury. Thus most consumers don’t know that
about amalgam fillings, and many are understandably deceived by the term
silver fillings, a consumer fraud
You can help
hasten the day for mercury-free dentistry by donating to Consumers for
Dental Choice. I have extended the deadline to September 16 to match
all gifts, dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000
Less than a generation ago, only three
percent of dentists were mercury-free. Dentistry's best-kept secret was
that amalgam fillings had mercury, a neurotoxin that can permanently
injure the developing brains of children and fetuses.
The secret was enforced by tyrannical dental boards, which threatened
to pull the license (the right to practice) of dentists who spoke out
-- and who did in fact pull mercury-free dentists' licenses in
California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, and New York.
Other mercury-free dentists faced unrelenting pressure from their
peers to conform. An historic irony that dentists doing the right thing
were ostracized is that is that the term "quack" derived from the German
word for mercury, "Quecksilber." The "quacks" were the health
professionals who used mercury!
It is to the great credit of these dentists -- who studied the
science and opposed putting pollution in their patients' mouths -- that
they stuck with their principles. As mercury-free dentistry grew,
dentists began to adapt by offering mercury-free dentistry.
Synergistically, as mercury-free dentistry grew, so did consumer
awareness.
Consumers for Dental Choice was created in 1997; its first project
was to free up dentists to be able to advise, advocate, and advertise
for mercury-free dentistry. To take out this notorious gag rule root and
branch, Consumers for Dental Choice used a comprehensive strategy.
This NGO (non-government organization) built alliances with advocate
groups, such as the Goldwater Institute and the American Civil Liberties
Union. Then, this NGO went to the media, most spectacularly in
California, where a page one story in the Los Angeles Times in September
1999 blew the lid off the dental board's denial of free speech rights.
Charlie Brown optimized his role as a former Attorney General,
sitting down with his peers in several states to show why the law was in
favor of the dissenting dentists. He found allies in state
legislatures, such as Senator Karen Johnson of Arizona, Representative
Hal Lynde of New Hampshire, and Representative John Rogers of Alabama.
Charlie Brown and his team worked to put supporters of mercury-free
dentistry onto the formerly monopolistic dental boards, such as Dr.
Jessica Saepoff of Washington state, Kevin Biggers and Dr. Chet Yokoyama
of California, and the late Dr. Ron King of Minnesota.
With a growing body of public officials supporting mercury-free
dentistry, they launched the State and Local Public Officials
Mercury-Free Caucus, now chaired by former Senator Charlotte Pritt of
West Virginia. (Later, Senator Pritt and the Caucus were active in the
pushing for amalgam language in the Minamata Convention.)
By the middle of the past decade, a sea-change had occurred. Dentists
were advertising mercury-free dentistry. They went to public hearings
and spoke out. They began to put to shame the dentists who kept using
mercury and who used absurd arguments about mercury being inert and
vapor-less.
Without Consumers for Dental Choice and the work of its leader
Charlie Brown, these changes almost certainly would not have happened --
at least not in this century. Please recognize their leadership, and
help them move forward. I will match your gift dollar for dollar.
Yet half of America's dentists have still not changed. This is
particularly true in institutional dentistry -- the military, the
prisons, the Veterans Administration, the Indian Reservations, and the
corporate dentistry settings where dentists focus on "drill, fill, and
bill." These dentists find succor under the protective wing of the
pro-mercury American Dental Association (ADA), whose instructions
invariably are to talk about amalgam without ever uttering the "M" word.
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Mercury awareness
Despite the progress, we have plenty of work do to. Amalgam, also
called "silver fillings," is in fact a massive consumer fraud. By
referring to the color of the compound rather than its content,
consumers everywhere have been tricked into placing a known neurotoxin
in their mouths.
Think about it, if your dentist said, "Okay, I'm going to put a large
mercury filling into this molar," you'd probably sit up and say, "Hey
doc, maybe we should talk about this?!"
Most people are aware that mercury is hazardous to health, but if they don't know that amalgam contains mercury,
then they cannot object to it in the first place. And that's exactly
how the dental industry and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
wants it.
Most Americans are deceived by inaccurate terms
Consumers for Dental Choice recently issued a new report titled, Measurably Misleading,1 which reveals just how the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the dental industry have deceived you about amalgam.
A recent Zogby poll, commissioned by Consumers for Dental Choice,
reveals that Americans are indeed fooled by the terms "silver fillings"
and "amalgam." Fifty-seven percent of Americans are unaware that amalgam
is a mercury filling, and 23 percent believe amalgam is made of silver.
Also, a mere 11 percent of people say their dentist ever told them that
amalgam contains mercury.
The FDA is responsible for addressing consumer fraud that occurs in
medicine and health. But when it comes to mercury fillings, the agency
has refused to take corrective action. Not only that, but it actually
condones, not condemns, the marketing of amalgam as "silver fillings."
Hence the deception continues.
Dental mercury fuels chronic inflammation in your body
Compelling evidence clearly shows that dental amalgams readily
release mercury in the form of vapor every time you eat, drink, brush
your teeth or otherwise stimulate your teeth. For a powerful
demonstration of the reality of these vapors, please see the following
video.
As noted in a 2010 scientific review2
on mercury exposure and children's health, there is no known safe level
of exposure for mercury. Ideally, exposure should be zero, so any
dentist insisting that mercury exposure from amalgam is "minimal" or
"inconsequential" is really not acting in an ethical manner.
The mercury vapors released from the amalgam in your teeth readily
pass through your cell membranes, across your blood-brain barrier, and
into your central nervous system. Effects can be psychological,
neurological, and/or immunological.
At above average doses, brain functions such as reaction time,
judgment, and language can be impaired. At very high exposures, mercury
can affect your ability to walk, speak, think, and see clearly. One 2012
study3
evaluating the effects of mercury on cognition in otherwise healthy
adults found that those with blood mercury levels below 5 µg/L had the
best cognitive functions.
Mild impairment was evident at blood mercury levels of 5 to 15 µg/L
and above 15 µg/L, cognition was significantly impaired. Mercury is also
known to cause kidney damage, which is why it's so important to have
your mercury fillings removed by a properly trained biological dentist.
As explained by Dr. Chris Shade,
mercury can also displace other elements such as zinc and copper, by
attaching to the receptors that would otherwise hold these essential
minerals. Overall, mercury has a very strong ability to dysregulate your
entire system, which is part of the reason why mercury toxicity
symptoms are so difficult to pin down.
For example, I recently wrote about one case in which a woman diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
came to realize she was actually suffering from mercury toxicity. She
recovered after undergoing an appropriate detoxification protocol.
Putting an end to FDA and ADA's concealment of mercury
For decades, the FDA and American Dental Association (ADA) have
successfully concealed the fact that amalgam is made of 50 percent
mercury, and that there are health risks associated with mercury
fillings.
It's time for the truth to be acknowledged. Earlier this summer, a
group of dentists, scientists and patients filed a lawsuit against the
FDA. According to a recent news report,4
the group claims the FDA "hasn't done enough to address any potential
health hazards of amalgam and that it's low income groups... who often
end up with these fillings because they don't have a choice..."
More importantly, Consumers for Dental Choice is now taking the issue to the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who signed the Minamata treaty on mercury
last year on behalf of the US government. The Minamata Convention
includes a pledge to scale down amalgam, effective immediately.
The FDA's stance on amalgam is in direct violation of the Minamata
Convention, as its amalgam rule advocates more mercury fillings for
Americans, not less! Consumers for Dental Choice has created a petition to the Secretary of State, asking that he insist the FDA disclose the presence of mercury in dental amalgam.
The petition also requests that the Secretary of State take action to
end the use of amalgam in government agencies that provide dental care,
such as the Veterans Administration, the Defense Department, and the
Bureau of Prisons. I encourage you to sign and share this petition with your Facebook and Twitter networks.
Why do half of all American dentists still use mercury amalgam?
When Consumers for Dental Choice was founded, only three percent of
dentists were mercury-free. The organization has been instrumental in
catalyzing change in the industry. Today, more than 50 percent of
dentists in America have stopped using mercury filings. Unfortunately,
we seem to have stalled out at around 50 percent of dentists who still
insist on using amalgam.
"We think the pro-mercury dentists have stabilized because they won't learn anything new and the profits are so easy," Charlie Brown says.
Indeed, dentists make more money per chair per day when using mercury
fillings. For factory-style dentistry, where the teeth represent dollar
signs instead of part of a human being, dentists drill, fill, and bill.
The term "drill, fill, and bill" is a joke aspiring dentists learn in
dental school. Only the joke is on us and our children. They count
their money, and we have a vaporous neurotoxin implanted an inch from
our brains. And of course, since amalgam damages tooth structure and
cracks teeth, pro-mercury dentists continue to profit from amalgam long
after its initial placement.
For decades, the ADA forbade dentists to reveal truth about amalgam
The ADA's longstanding effort to keep consumers uninformed is another
factor that has kept the secret going for so long. The ADA owns two
patents on amalgam, patent numbers 4,018,600 and 4,078,921.
The patents have now expired, but while they were in effect the ADA
went to incredible lengths to wipe out mercury-free dentistry and quash
dissent from the emerging critics of mercury-based dentistry. It went so
far as to adopt a "rule of conduct" that actually prohibited dentists
from discussing mercury with their patients:
"Based on available scientific data, the ADA has determined that
the removal of amalgam restorations from the non-allergic patient for
the alleged purpose of removing toxic substances from the body, when
such treatment is performed solely at the recommendation or suggestion
of the dentist, is improper and unethical."
Yes, the ADA said it is unethical for a dentist to tell the truth to
his patients. This gag rule, enforced by state dental boards, clearly
violated the First Amendment. It was finally undone by Consumers for
Dental Choice, starting in 1998, and by dentists who boldly stepped
forward over the years. Still, the effects linger.
Mercury has no place in 21st century dentistry
As noted in the Consumers for Dental Choice report Measurably Misleading,5 a majority of consumers are not given even the most basic information about amalgam—the fact that it contains mercury.
The central deception revolves around referring to mercury fillings
as "silver" or "amalgam." Still to this day, many dentists will not use
the "M" word, mercury, in talking to their patients for fear of
jeopardizing their license, thanks to the ADA's rule of conduct (above).
For a long while now, mercury has been dentistry's greatest controversy
and its great little secret.
Fortunately, dentists worldwide are now moving toward mercury-free
dentistry. Indeed, it's time for dentists everywhere to "grab the bull
by the horn" and tell their patients that amalgam is about 50 percent
mercury.
The word "silver filling" is a deception, and "amalgam" is an
ambiguity. Both terms need to be replaced with the truthful description
of "mercury filling." Mercury-free dentistry is the future, but to get
there, consumersringing mercury-free dentistry to the us need to be told
the truth, and that means that dentists need to speak out and make
their voices heard in their communities.
Important information regarding amalgam removal
For those of you who have mercury fillings, I recommend that you have
them removed. However, it's very important to get it done right.
Removing amalgam fillings can expose you to significant amounts of
mercury vapors if the dentist doesn't know what he or she is doing. The
following links can help you to find a mercury-free, biological dentist,
trained in the safe removal of amalgam:
Working with talented environmental, consumer, and health leaders,
Consumers for Dental Choice is launching mercury amalgam phase-out
campaigns in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the United
States, efforts are also being redoubled, with a focus on forcing the
FDA to uphold the promise made by the nation when it signed the Minamata
treaty on mercury pollution.
It's quite simple really. The United States of America has made a
promise to the international community to immediately begin reducing the
use of amalgam, and the FDA is in direct violation of this promise.
Consumers for Dental Choice is betting that the Secretary of State
will not allow the FDA to embarrass the White House and the entire
country by refusing to take the most basic of steps toward a phase-down
of mercury fillings, which is: informing consumers that amalgam is made
with mercury, and telling dentists to inform their patients of the same.
This is the week we can get Consumers for Dental Choice the funding
it deserves to achieve these aims. I have found few NGOs as effective,
and none as efficient, as Consumers for Dental Choice. Its small team
has led the charge on six continents -- including ours! So I am stepping
up with the challenge.
For the fourth year in a row, I will match the funds you give. In
2012, the match was up to $50,000 -- and you did it! In 2013, I upped
the ante to $75,000 -- and you did it again! This year, I will match
$100,000. So please give, and all donations received up to $100,000 will
be matched by Natural Health Research Foundation, which I founded.
A final, important word: avoid dentists who use mercury amalgams, and advise your friends and family to do the same.
It's time for each of us to ask this simple question to the dentist
before we get a filling done: "Doctor, do you practice mercury-free
dentistry on all of your patients?" If your dentist is mercury-free,
thank him or her. If not, consider finding a mercury-free dentist. As
with genetically engineered foods, voting with your pocket book is one
of the most effective strategies we consumers have at our disposal.
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