Talk:Dental amalgam controversy/anti

The "anti" side of the Dental amalgam controversy
Dental amalgams are the largest contributor to the acceptable daily intake of mercury for adult Americans, with the ADI limit being reached with mercury vapor from 4 fillings in addition to air/water as calculated by Health Canada. The ADI can be exceeded in certain at-risk individuals with mercury vapor from less than 4 fillings:


 * In toxicology, the dose makes the poison. Dr. Mark Richardson of Health Canada calculated that the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of mercury when including mercury vapor from amalgams with the amounts in air and water was 4 fillings for the average adult.
 * This was verified using NHANES III datasets from the National Center for Health Statistics, which cost $120,000,000 to collect.
 * Above mercury vapor from 6 fillings in NHANES III data, which represents the health of the American people and is owned by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, disease rates jump by 50% across the board. In areas where mercury is higher in water and air, the ADI mercury level with fillings is in the range mercury vapor from 1-3 fillings.
 * Mercury vapor does come off of fillings, this was shown with the Jerome portable mercury analyzer used for mercury spill response and the Tekran mercury background monitor.
 * The vapor amount given off by fillings is enough to change the mercury levels inside rooms, at trade shows Tekran showed mercury levels doubling to 12 parts per million during coffee breaks, as the mercury vapor filled the conference hall; the source was found to be mercury fillings in teeth.
 * To jump from 6pmm to 12ppm, it means people are the worst mercury polluters in a room. The safe level of mercury vapor in a room is 50,000 ppm, but this amount is reached in the small volume of the mouth during brushing and from hot liquids or chewing, and then exhaled into the room.
 * Jerome meters inserted into the oral cavity verify this concentration. So we know where the mercury vapor is coming from (fillings), the concentration it reaches in the oral cavity (can exceed 50,000 ppm for a few minutes), where it goes (into the room air, doubles from 6 to 12ppm, and into the lungs and then bloodstream), and the health effects (4 fillings are the safe level, NHANES III verifies poor health escalates dramatically after this level of fillings).
 * So the belief amalgam is "safe" is just that, a belief formed in 1859; the only criteria to become an American Dental Association (ADA) member in 1859 was to believe amalgam was safe.
 * While the ADA has known since 1882 that mercury vapor comes off fillings, the detection at that time used the Daguerreotype process (silver halide detection).
 * The science did not exist at the time to measure parts-per-million in Dr. Talbot's labs off-campus from Rush Medical College.
 * The ADA still did not change its belief in 1882 that amalgam was safe, nor did it in 1983 when they admitted mercury vaporized off fillings, in 1990 on 60 Minutes, or in 2007 when the FDA outside panel voted 13:7 to disagree with the draft FDA report on the safety of amalgam.
 * There is no "placebo" effect here, there is only the "wealth" effect and it is making dentists very nervous to even think about the liability they are at risk for.
 * Panic was widespread in 1990 when 60 Minutes brought this issue to the attention of the whole world; something had to be done as dentists were literally under attack for months and months.
 * Finally after calculating the liability, a bylaw was passed expelling dentists who believed amalgam is unsafe.
 * The NHANES screenings, confirming mercury vapor 4 fillings as the acceptable daily intake level, have finally put a number on this issue: BOTH SIDES ARE RIGHT, amalgam has an ADI, the level is generally mercury vapor from 4 fillings including the mercury level in air and water.  On the moon, it would be higher (6 fillings) as there is no mercury in NASA air or water.
 * The ADA has never denied this, they just say "we believe amalgam is safe for the vast majority except for allergy".
 * The issue is that 25% of Americans have more than 6 fillings, so in a sense the ADA is right because 75% (the vast majority) have mercury vapor from 6 or less fillings so are at less risk (and virtually no risk under mercury vapor from 4 fillings). So both sides are right.
 * This is why it has come down to 2 beliefs, 2 sides, and science just used to justify the belief of either side. Ultimately, there is no "safe" level of mercury, so we deal with the idea of "acceptable".  Is it acceptable that millions of people, when they take their fillings out, see their health improve?  No, it is not acceptable and it is CONTROVERSIAL, if not downright outside the legal boundaries of acceptable behavior.


 * Mercury is dangerous: Mercury poisoning has killed many people over centuries and epidemics have been mis-diagnosed for years; dental fillings contain 50% mercury which in 1859 was thought to be locked in. However in 1882 it emerged mercury vapor comes off in small amounts, which did not change the ADA's belief it was safe. Vaporizing of mercury from the fillings will be breathed in, absorbed and passed on into the body's tissues by the bloodstream in very small amounts, undetectable by blood tests, and will accumulate in key biological tissues. There is no way to counteract the spread of mercury in the body, the body will detoxify mercury once the contaminating environmental load is reduced/removed. The more fillings you have, the more likely you are to be sick.


 * There is no conclusive evidence of safety: The burden of proof has always been on those who beleve that dental amalgam is safe, and it would be prudent to play it safe, and follow the Precautionary Principle and ban dental amalgams which contain mercury. The belief that amalgam is unsafe is formed from seeing recoveries after all amalgam is removed from patients;  this was reported on 60 Minutes in 1990 in the broadcast "Is There Poison In Your Mouth", which eventually led the FDA panel vote 16 years later.  As a result of the FDA panel vote, amalgam is considered neither safe/unsafe and patients are free to have them removed without interference or threats from the ADA.