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Mercury Fillings and Your Health

posted by Dr. Brent Mar 4, 2009 7:19 am
Mercury Fillings and Your Health
21 comments

Q: Do you think that having mercury fillings in our teeth is detrimental to your health?

A: For the adult person, the limited amount of mercury in a single mercury filling is unlikely to cause harm; however, the FDA does suggest that the levels of mercury found in amalgam fillings may be significant enough to pose harm to the developing nervous systems of children and fetuses.

Dr. Brent Ridge is the health expert for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. You can call and ask him a question live every Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 112 (1.866.675.6675). You can also follow along as he learns to grow his own food and raise goats on his farm in upstate New York by visiting www.beekman1802.com.

Got a health question for Dr. Brent? E-mail him at drbrent@care2.com.

More on Ask Dr. Brent (122 articles available)
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21 comments

21 comments

add your comment »
21 comments add your comment
Vural K.

thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner

Ellyn S.

I had the mercury fillings removed from my teeth when I was in my late 50s, and as soon as the mercury was gone, I noticed that my jaw was more relaxed than I had remembered it being in many years, and it has remained relaxed after several years. It is very clear to me that the mercury fillings in my teeth were causing tension in my jaw.

E. Sutton

Ng F.
  • Ng F. says
  • Mar 5, 2009 7:14 PM

And by the way there's no need for root canal treatment in most cases too. Do check up more on this before letting your dentist decide for you. In my opinion, root canal treatments are often done too arbitrarily, just like how surgery is often suggested without looking at other milder and often wiser options.

Ng F.
  • Ng F. says
  • Mar 5, 2009 7:03 PM

I had very bad teeth from a young age, and had countless mercury fillings.

Some years ago, I started having vertigo attacks. As with the case of many diseases, the reason was unknown, but my father started having vertigo a few years earlier, so it was assumed to be hereditary. A few years down the road, my father ceased to have vertigo attacks, for what reason, we didn't know. Then some time later, I heard about amalgam fillings being toxic, and slowly had mine removed from my teeth. With them gone, I had no more attacks.

On hind sight, I know why in our family of 7, only my father and I had this problem. Because we had the most mercury in our mouth. Now it's easy to see why my father's condition was reversed quite suddenly. His teeth had turned so bad that most of them were removed, that means his mercury was removed too.

To be honest, I don't trust doctors or dentists easily now. Born sickly, I've been to many doctors and dentists. But none told me that diet plays an important role in building a healthy body, and that all parts of our body are interlinked. Dentists typically would say that my teeth are clean, they could see that I brushed my teeth well, but they couldn't understand why I had so many decays. Now that I have started to be more aware of what I eat, I hardly have decays anymore. Not as many headaches, colds, gastric pain either.

MaryAnn S.

Why is it that the ADA considers mercury safe when inplanted in out heads and a toxic, hazardous material when not in out heads?

Linda S.

Correction: normal weight of 115-120

Linda S.

My mercury amalgam dental fillings along with the mercury in vaccines nearly killed me. I was down to 82 lbs. (5'6" with normal weight of 155-120) despite eating healthy foods, constantly fatigued, losing my ability to spell, concentrate, etc. See my story here: http://www.toxicmetals.info/case_linda_l.htm
Mercury amalgam dental fillings played a significant role in my mother's early-onset (obvious at 52, died at 68) Alzheimer's. I'm doing what I can to avoid that fate.

Sharon Hoehner

David,

Fibromyalgia usually has a thryoid component to it and mercury likes to collect in the thryoid. Chemicals and other toxins all contribute and it's a bit of a vicious circle. Toxins cause acid build up. Acid build up causes pain. Pain causes more acid build up. Getting rid of toxins and balancing the thyroid go a long way to eliminating fibro. My Mom had it, got rid of it but now since she stopped looking after herself as far as diet goes and she's refusing to do anything about her dental work, it's slowing manifesting itself again so she'll need to do more detoxing (if willing). Removal of root canals, especially in the rear molar may be necessary if all else fails. That one affects the thyroid and brain and stomach. Do you have indigestion? Probiotics and enzymes are very helpful as well but to get rid of pain you need to take steps to get alkaline and toxin-free. It can and has been done many times but don't expect your doctor to tell you this!

David VanHouten

I suffer from Fibromyalgia and recent studies indicate that mercury fillings could either cause or exacerbate the symptoms of Fibromyalgia.

Jane Wood

Recently there has been a programme on British television on the subject of mercury amalgam fillings. I was amazed that leading clinicians denied any danger but could not site any research confirming this hypothesis. At least can we have some evidence even if we have to count our own fillings and list our ailments.
Mercury is a poison. Logic states that embedding it in our heads is taking a risk.

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