Too long since I've posted here. And too long that I have had a toxic substance slowly leeching into my body every second of every minute of every hour of every day since my early childhood.
What was to be a short, new post to say hello and express my happiness over the way things are progressing on the amalgam removal process (starting on Monday!), quickly became a page full of babbling about not only my personal issues with mercury, but also about the overall travesty that is still going on in our country with the use of dental amalgams. And that was only the introduction to my proposed new blog entry.
So, I decided to put that one on a back-burner for another few days to let myself "simmah down" a little before returning to write more on my little amalgam rant story. When I can approach the topic again with less fury, I will try to present a somewhat articulate position on the dental amalgam safety debate.
For now - have a look at the FDA's "Questions and Answers on Dental Amalgam" page updated on May 1, 2009.
Even the FDA states:
Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses. When amalgam fillings are placed in teeth or removed from teeth, they release mercury vapor. Mercury vapor is also released during chewing.
And - did the FDA really pose this question -
(5) What is the current exposure to mercury for patients? For professionals? What would be the reduction in exposure associated with the use of alternative materials?
to be addressed for their "future analysis of benefits and costs" regarding the regulation of the use of dental amalgams?
My answers would be, in this order, TOO MUCH, TOO MUCH, and unless I'm missing something, the reduction would be, uh, I don't know, 100%. . . . I do make at least one assumption in answering that third part of the question - that the "alernative materials" do, in fact, not contain mercury. Of course, as long as there are people with amalgam fillings, they will be continually exposed to the vapors. As long as people with amalgam fillings go to the dentist (and/or are the dentist), dental professionals will also be at risk for exposure.
Alrighty. I've been up too long. It's getting early (it is well-past "late"), I better get some rest before the Os wake up in a few hours. More to come. . .
Update:
ReplyDeleteAs of July 28, 2009, the FDA revised their on-line statement regarding amalgam dental filling materials - http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DentalProducts/DentalAmalgam/default.htm
The statement I viewed when creating this blog entry has been taken down from the FDA website, but I can assure you that the text I quoted from the FDA's previous statement on dental amalgam was present and was a direct quote from the previous FDA webpage.