This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

[ssmme]

After watching the clip about amalgam fillings,one of the last comments was the infertility heartbreak...my sister is a dentist, has practiced for about 12 years and has never been able to conceive even with fertility treatments. I would never have made the connection. BTW she's never had a cavity so no amalgam in her mouth.

Marcia

[robin50]

almost arround 10 years ago

i read the "swedish study" about mercury in the central-nerve system, and everybody knows, that mercury is toxic!

BUT:

there was found no correlation between the ms and the mercury traces!
(which where found)

a number of dentists try to make only additional bussiness out of this situation.

well, i have 4 KIDS wich are grown and adult now and also WE TOOK CARE about their teeth and "fillings". so we decided ceramic ore plastic and no amalgam, but BEFORE they get any desease, not afterwards!

robin

[Murph]

Hi all,

I have often wondered about Amal as well and now after reading your posts I am a bit reluctant to take them out incase releasing fumes. All I can say is I am fed up with thinking about why we have all got this crap disease & I wish someone would find some sort of answer. Its not easy for any of us and when you can look so normal at times and feel so terrible on the inside, it makes it so hard.

I am just having a winge - I know there are so many others worse off!

[corydl]

A few years ago my wife had an amalgam removed. We were trying to get anything toxic out of her body, and we felt like there was too much stuff pointing to problems with mercury in your body, especially with MS. We went to our normal dentist and she had a small filling removed. It was the only filling in her mouth, and we didn't think it would be a big deal. She was feeling great and was not having any MS issues so we set the appt. Within 24 hours of the appt she had an attack. I wasn't able to go to the dentist with her when she had it removed, and found out after the fact that this dentist was not a bio dentist. The dentist had done nothing to help with the release of the mercury. The dentist just drilled it out! What a mess. Luckily we knew what to do about it, and she was over the attack within a few days.

It was an awful lesson to learn, but we know for sure that my wife is affected by mercury. We have since started seeing a bio dentist and I had a few fillings removed. They had all sorts of things hooked to me and there was minimal chance of exposure to the mercury. I know we did the right thing by getting my wife's filling removed, but we really messed up by not doing our homework first.

[TwistedHelix]

I just thought I'd add some fuel to this debate… Perhaps some people have this strain of bacterium in their mouths and thus more toxic mercury?

Contact: Paul Francuch
francuch@uic.edu
312-996-3457
University of Illinois at Chicago
Dental chair a possible source of neurotoxic mercury waste

Mercury is a large component of dental fillings, but it is not believed to pose immediate health risks in that form. When exposed to sulfate-reducing bacteria, however, mercury undergoes a chemical change and becomes methylated, making it a potent, ingestible neurotoxin.

While the major source of neurotoxic mercury comes from coal-fired electric power plants, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at Urbana-Champaign say mercury entering drain water from dental clinics and offices is also a source.

"We found the highest levels of methyl mercury ever reported in any environmental water sample," said Karl Rockne, associate professor of environmental engineering at UIC and corresponding author of the study that appeared online March 12 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Working with James Drummond, UIC professor of restorative dentistry, Rockne gathered waste water samples in collection tanks generated from both a single-chair dentist's office and a 12-chair dental clinic to check for methyl mercury.

Water collected was allowed to settle. Clear layers above the settled particles were then analyzed for presence of methyl mercury. Fine, slow-settling particles of mercury get into the waste water mostly after dentists use high-speed drills to remove old amalgam fillings. The numerous fine particles the drilling produces provide an ample source of exposed mercury surfaces, making them prime targets for sulfur-reducing bacteria that commonly live in anaerobic conditions and are known to methylate mercury.

"It appears to be produced partially, if not fully in the waste water, and it's being produced very rapidly," said Rockne, adding that it was significant this was happening before the particles were getting into sewers, where sulfur-reducing bacteria thrive.

The finding raised the question whether the culprit bacteria were living in the mouths of dental patients. "We don't have the answer," Rockne said.

Based on their sample studies, the researchers estimate that 2-5 kilograms, or up to 11 pounds, of methyl mercury could be entering the public water supply of the United States each year from dental waste water. While this may not seem like much, methyl mercury is highly toxic in minute amounts.

When in waterways, methyl mercury tends to get biomagnified up the food chain, moving from algae and phytoplankton to fish and, ultimately, to humans.

While surprised by the level of contaminants found in the study, Rockne says follow-up research is necessary -- then, possibly, some basic engineering.

"Amalgam separators are a good first step, but maybe something else is necessary downstream to prevent further methylation and prevent further soluble mercury from getting through the system," he said.

"We have to take more steps to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place," he said. "We're dealing with a pipe -- a control point. As an engineer, I see this as a problem that is tractable -- something we can definitely do something about."

###

Other researchers in the study include UIC environmental engineering Ph.D. student Xiuhong Zhao and orthodontics resident Ryan Hurley. Measurements of methyl mercury were performed using a technique developed at UIUC's department of natural resources and environmental sciences. Contributing department members were Robert Hudson, associate professor, and graduate student Christopher Shade.

Funds were provided by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

[CureOrBust]

Fine, slow-settling particles of mercury get into the waste water mostly after dentists use high-speed drills to remove old amalgam fillings.

I never thought about what happens to dental waste. I guess I assumed similar things as would happen to medical waste (Incineration?)

I am actually getting some dental work done now, so while they are there, I am getting my two amalgam fillings removed. I decided this now because the dentists I recently found are very serious about amalgam removal, and take the appropriate precautions. They call themselves "Holistic Dentists".

Actually, I just checked my dentists web site, and found the following on it.

Even when dentist uses the material on their patients, the left over material must be disposed of as toxic waste, by law.

http://www.shdc.com.au/?p=amalgam-debate&s=services

Hopefully Australian law covers the drilling waste as well.