Covered in this section:
Your inquiry about Mercury Toxicity
Mercury and the impact on your health
Contamination and your health
What happens to the mercury in your fillings?
What diseases do those who react develop?
Electrical currents with the power to destroy
How we rid ourselves of mercury

Your inquiry about Mercury Toxicity
Recent material received from the ADA (Australian Dental Association) shows that they cannot furnish evidence of compatibility of mercury in the oral cavity. 
That is not surprising, since mercury and all of its components are toxic.
In the past, the dental profession has held the position that mercury does not come out of amalgam fillings. 

The claim is readily dispelled by simply having a patient who has mercury-silver restorations (amalgams) chew vigorously for a few minutes and then analysing the air in that patient's mouth with a mercury vapour detector.  We consistently find when we perform this test SIGNIFICANT mercury vapour levels.  Whether the filling is one or ten years old, the amount of vapour detected is frequently in the hazardous range.

This is not a new discovery.  For instance, even in 1949, Dr Ralph Phillips published the results of studying 100 fillings at random.  Age was not a factor in the study.  He found mercury contents in fillings ranged from 24.95% up to 64.95%.  Newly placed amalgams are currently made with an average of 52% pure mercury although amalgams in the past were sometimes made with an even greater percentage of mercury. 
But the 24.95% noted by Dr Phillips is at least a 50% decreases from the amount of mercury in those fillings when they were originally made.
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Where did the mercury go, and if it became absorbed into the body, what impact does it have on your health?"

Mercury and the impact on your health
As mercury is released from your amalgam fillings, it tends to react with your body chemicals and bacteria to form various toxic mercurials.  By far the most dangerous is methylmercury, which can be formed by several different mechanisms and incorporated into your body.  Once incorporated, this methylmercury has adverse effects on neurological, cardiac, vascular, digestive, endocrine and other tissues.

Virtually everyone reacts to the presence of mercury. 
This universal reaction, however, is not easily seen in all people who have mercury-silver fillings.  Only some people react strongly enough to require medical help.  Unfortunately, this medical help is usually unsuccessful as long as mercury remains in the body.  

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Contamination and your health
While some people show very little outward reaction to mercury, even minimal contamination can affect your health.  
Recent research by the Toxic Element Research Foundation (TERF) indicates that at least 67% of the test subjects showed a measurable systemic reactivity with mercury and its components as might be expected in patients with amalgam.   Patient reactions to the mercury, however, varied.

Some experienced only a slight change in their immune system. This might result in three colds per winter instead of two, or an elevation of 2000-3000 in their white blood cell count.   The more highly reactive patient, however, could become totally incapacitated with neurologic, cardiac, gastrointestinal or immune complications resulting from the effects of mercury in the body.

The point is that mercury should not be placed in the mouth- even just a few percent (let alone 67%) of the population react adversely.

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What happens to the mercury in your fillings after it it released from the amalgam.
Many things. 
It can go into the nasal sinus and subsequently into the brain, or it might be absorbed into the blood through the lungs or within the mouth.  In addition, mercury could be further modified and bound into complex molecules for absorption within the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. 

Once absorbed into the body, the mercury tends to concentrate and bind to certain selective 'target tissues'.  This contributes to the development of a variety of disease manifestations.   One of the most tragic problems from this concentration process comes when the mercury which is bound to red blood cells exchanges and crosses the placental barrier, where it concentrates as much as 30% higher in foetal blood than in mother's blood.

What diseases do those who react develop?
Briefly, there are five divisions of diseases that we have seen improve with Total Dental Revision.

1. Neurological - including emotional responses such as depression, anxiety and irritability as well as neural effects such as facial twitches, muscle spasms, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
2. Cardiovascular - unexplained rapid heart rate and / or unidentified chest pains.
3. Collagen diseases - such as arthritis, scleroderma and lupis.
4. Immunologic - lowering the body's defence system capacity and the viability of white blood cells.
5. Allergies and fatigue - mercury can alter chemistries so that some people become sensitive to foods and chemicals. return to top of page

Electrical current with the power to destroy
Two dissimilar metals in a saliva environment will produce electrical current by galvanic action, and become a battery of sorts.   The five metals frequently found in most amalgam formulations produce an even more complex battery.  The electrical currents produced by amalgam are far greater in magnitude than the sensitive electrical currents the brain operates on, and are far greater than the current that activates acupuncture meridians.

These abnormal electrical currents can cause or contribute to a wide variety of symptoms and disease.  Amalgam removal in patients who have conditions related to galvanic electrical generation sometimes produces almost immediate improvements. 
One woman with a headache of 17 years duration had total relief before the dental appointment was over. 
Can this be due to metal toxicity?  Probably not.  Rapid improvements may be due to removal of electrical currents produced by the amalgam battery.  Modern investigation has only recently begun to examine this important problem area.

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How we rid mercury and dental toxins from your system
The most important guidelines for mercury - toxic patients is that they must NOT rush out and have their amalgams removed.

A four step plan is the key to success and health restoration:

DIET      SUPPLEMENTATION     APPOINTMENTS      REMOVAL     REPLACEMENT

Click here for details

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Disclaimer of liability: Eric Davis Dental web sit is a site designed to inform patients about alternatives to traditional dental procedures and materials.  The opinions presented at Eric Davis Dental are controversial and many are disputed by other dental practitioners.  Dr Davis expressly disclaims all liability arising out of the improper use of the information provided.  Please consult your treating physician or other dental professional regarding these important health issues.

Silver/Mercury dental filling advisory:

This dental centre does not use any"silver" filling material for the following reasons:

Fact: "Silver" or amalgam dental fillings contain from 48-55 % mercury, 33-35% silver, and various amounts of copper, tin, zinc and other metals.  Since mercury is the major component of the material, any representation of the material should include the word "mercury".  Thus at this practice, we refer to them as mercury dental fillings.

Fact: Mercury is a powerful poison.  Published research has shown that mercury, even in small amounts is more toxic than lead, cadmium and even arsenic. 

Fact: The mercury vapour released from mercury dental fillings is absorbed very rapidly and thoroughly in your body primarily by inhalation and swallowing.
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