Filling in the Gaps: Understanding Mercury Fillings and What You Can Do About It

Hi, everybody. I'm Dr. Sandhya Moldovan, periodontist and nutritionist. Welcome to the Holistic Dentistry Podcast, the show that gives you the tips and tools to detoxify your mouth for a healthier body as we explore together the root cause of disease. Remember, you're not healthy until your mouth is healthy, so take care of it in the most natural way. This is part three of the top three procedures that can make you toxic in the dental office. And the first week, we talked about dental cleanings. The second week, we talked about root canals. And today we're going to talk about mercury. And you might be thinking, who in the world is still using mercury? But actually, in the United States, there's lots of dentists who are using mercury in a dental office. And even if they're not using mercury in the dental office, they're removing mercury. And when we remove mercury, there's a lot of toxic vapors that get gets released from the tooth into the air, and that vapor is odorless, is tasteless, and we actually end up inhaling it. And it can cause more toxicity than actually having mercury in someone's mouth. So that's how mercury becomes one of the top three procedures that can make you toxic in the dental office. Dental amalgam has been used to restore teeth for 200 years. And at the time, they figured, wow, you know, mercury is actually antibacterial. It's great to be used in a tooth because it'll actually block cavities from being formed. But as we know today, that is not true. Every time we remove mercury fillings, there is lots of cavities behind, and actually they're not even detected on an X ray because mercury is blocking us from seeing the cavity oftentimes. Numerous studies, including autopsy studies, have shown higher levels of mercury in tissues of humans with amalgam fillings, as opposed to those who are not exposed. And the first study that was actually done was on sheep. And unfortunately, the Dental Society was criticized for actually doing the study on sheep. But what we found in that study is that the sheep who got the amalgam fillings placed within one month, that mercury actually was found in the liver, in the lungs, in the brain of the animal. So we know that shortly thereafter, somebody gets a mercury filling, you're going to become toxic. Increasing amalgam load is also associated with increasing mercury concentration in the exhalation, in the breath, in saliva, in blood, feces, urine, and of course, the organs that I mentioned earlier, the liver, the kidneys, the pituitary gland, the brain, and For a pregnant mother, mercury is found to cross into the amniotic fluid. Cord blood found in the placenta and the fetal tissues. Colostrum and breast milk also contain mercury particles. So once it's in, your body is really everywhere. I am a member of IAOMT, which is the International association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology and if you go to our website@iomt.org you will find numerous articles on mercury and scientific studies. Why it is toxic it is a known fact in the medical and dental community. The position paper IONT states that we want to end the use of dental mercury amalgam fillings in this country. Many other medical devices and mercury containing substances have been already removed from use including wound disinfectants that contain mercury diuretics, mercury thermometers have been off the market vet substances. In this era, when the public is advised to be concerned about about mercury exposure through fish consumption, dental mercury amalgam fillings should also be eliminated, especially because they are the predominant source of mercury exposure in the general population. Another thing mentioned in our position paper for IOMT is that we want to establish the health benefits of a mercury free mercury safe biological dentistry office and we also want to assist the medical professionals and also patients that are looking to understand these dental procedures. The scope of mercury in dental mercury amalgam fillings. 50% of these amalgam fillings or the silver fillings that you might have in your mouth are actually mercury. And the risk of illness associated with the use of dental mercury presents an unreasonable and substantial danger to the health of everyone as a patient, as a dental personnel and also the unborn baby of that pregnant mother walking through the doors. So for that reason I put mercury on the top three dental procedures that can make one toxic you might have seen on IOMT website. And if you haven't, I highly encourage you to go look at the smoking tooth video in which IOMT clearly demonstrates how mercury vapor comes off from a dental amalgam filling in different scenarios. For example, when you drink hot water and you have mercury fillings, mercury gets released off the tooth. When you go get a cleaning and your hygienist is polishing that mercury filling, there's mercury being released that you end up swallowing it and also inhaling it when you're brushing your teeth, also mercury comes off the tooth so slowly, slowly gets eliminated from the filling, you swallow it and it ends up of course also in the environment. The kind of mercury in dental amalgam fillings is not safe. I know some dentists will tell you that because it's bound, it's in the filling, nothing comes off. But this is not true. Marking dental malcolm fillings is constantly release, making it clear that these fillings are actually not safe for you. The type of mercury used in amalgam fillings is elemental mercury. And mercury is found in nature and it is toxic. It's a neurotoxin most of all. The same mercury that was used in certain thermometers that your mom and dad maybe told you not to play with is the same mercury that's being used in the dental fillings. All forms of mercury are dangerous and exposure to mercury of any amount has been proven to be toxic and can cause health issues. For that reason, in 2005, the World Health Organization report warned everyone of the mercury toxicity, quote, unquote. It may cause harmful effects to the nervous, digestive, respiratory, immune systems and to the kidneys. Besides causing lung damage, adverse health effects from mercury exposure can be tremors, impaired vision and hearing paralysis, insomnia, emotional instability, developmental deficits during fetal development, an attention deficit, and developmental delays during childhood. Recent studies suggest that mercury may have no threshold which some adverse effects do not occur. So this is what World Health organization said in 2005, which is almost 20 years ago. So we know that mercury is toxic. Some individual countries have already banned mercury amalgam, and the European Union is considering to do a ban by 2030. The U.S. environmental Protection Agency utilized measures in the Clean Water act to develop standards for dental cleaning, because, believe it or not, a lot of dentists, we used to take out all these mercury fillings and it would end up in our waters because there was no trap designed to actually keep the mercury away from the environment and it wouldn't be flushed down the drain. So There was in 2017, a standard established where amalgam separators were installed in the dental office to keep the dental mercury away from ending up in our water supply and away from the environment. As a matter of fact, the United Nations Environment Program clearly states that the Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. Countries taking actions against dental amalgamhcry fillings have demonstrated concerns about its impact on patients and on the environment, especially pregnant women and children. We've had so much research about this, I just can't believe that in this country we still haven't banned mercury. In research published in 2011, Dr. Richardson reported that more than 67 million Americans aged two years or older exceeded the intake of mercury vapor considered safe by the US EPA, 67 million Americans because of their dental mercury amalgam fillings. Over 122 million Americans exceeded the intake of mercury vapor considered safe by the California EPA due to their dental mercury amalgam fillings. Because, as you know, in California we actually have stricter standards of pollution. But there's so many people walking around and they have no idea that they're toxic because it's not part of your regular physical. We don't look to see the level of toxin, basically we just look to see if you're sick and when and if the mercury starts causing you to be sick, we'll just tell you you're sick. But we're not going to tell you. Really. Why? Because a lot of doctors are not testing for mercury toxicity. Numerous reviewed scientific studies report risks associated with dental mercury amalgam fillings. In fact, over 200 scientific articles produced by a literature source on PubMed. And PubMed is actually the go to source where I go to for my research. It's part of the National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health have been collected by IAOMT. It should be noted that Medline from the US National Library of Medicine is the primary component in PubMed and that the majority of journals included in MEDLINE are peer reviewed, which is very important. Properly diagnosing adverse side effects related to dental mercury fillings is complicated by the fact that reactions can take years to manifest themselves and by the intricate list of potential responses to substances which include over 250 specific symptoms. Not all patients will experience the same symptom or the combination of symptoms. Why? Because genetically we're all different and we are in the age of epigenetics, personalized medicine, and everybody has a different way to detoxify from mercury. And that's going to be a topic for, you know, a whole nother podcast episode detoxification. But the main thing is that through the MTHFR detoxification pathway, we all have different genetic makeup. Some people detoxify better than others. If you detoxify well, you're not going to retain that much mercury. If you detoxify poorly, you're gonna actually feel very sick. Mercury toxicity is associated with nervous system damage first and foremost. And I have my own experience with mercury toxicity because at the age of 14, up to the age of 14, I was actually living in Romania. And up until then, really the only choice of filling was mercury and mercury amalgam fillings at the dentist. So I loved sugar. I was a sugar addict. I didn't know Anything about floss or how to clean my teeth properly. So I ended up with 16 huge mercury fillings in my mouth. And I was always fascinated as a child because I would take a stainless steel fork and I would touch it onto one of my amalgam fillings, and I would get a zinger. And I didn't understand. I'm like, wow, what is that whole process? Little did I know that I actually had a battery going on in my mouth. Because when you have metal touching metal in the mouth, especially in a moist environment, you have a battery. And the problem is that battery, called galvanic current, that has been extensively studied, drains your batteries. And it certainly drained my batteries. I had those toxic mercury fillings up until my late 20s, where actually I just didn't want em anymore because they looked ugly. But little did I know that through removal of mercury, it was gonna make me more toxic. So as I started having these mercury fillings removed with one of my friends, even though he used what is called a dental dam, you know, kind of like a piece of rubber that's protecting patient from swallowing the mercury. I didn't have protection against the vapor of mercury because as we drill into a tooth, all that vapor of mercury actually goes into the air and it gets inhaled by the dentist through the mask, as well as the assistant, of course, me. And I remember getting home from that appointment after having removed four huge mercury fillings at one time. I wasn't feeling well, I was dizzy, I started developing a headache. I'm like, oh, it's probably just from staying open for too long. And then the following week, I went for another quadrant, Four more fillings, and the following week, another quadrant. So slowly I was building up more and more toxicity from this vapor. Finally, months later, me not feeling well, chronically fatigued with headaches all the time, I got my mercury levels tested and they were off the chart. I actually ended up doing a urine challenge test at our naturopath's office. And I had very high mercury, lead, aluminum, but especially mercury. It took me years to detoxify through IV chelation, oral chelation, and it was very difficult process because as those of you that have already gone through the process, it can really make you sick during the detoxification. Also, ingesting mercury can undergo bioaccumulation in all organs, not just neurological tissues. Mercury can have profound cellular, cardiovascular, hematological, pulmonary, renal, immunological, endocrine, reproductive, and embryonic toxicological effects. So let's talk about some of the symptoms that one can have from mercury toxicity. And then you can decide whether or not looking into mercury toxicity is right for you. Basically any kind of emotional instability, loss of appetite, anorexia, heart palpitations, also yeast, overgrowing yeast infections that are basically recurring. Cognitive impairment, memory loss, could be hallucinations, skin rashes or other dermatological conditions. Enlargement of a thyroid, fatigue, headaches, hearing loss, immune deficiencies, insomnia, decrease in coordination, weakness also can manifest orally as gingivitis, metallic taste. Also canoid reactions as erosive lichen, planus or white lesions. Psychological issues, mood swings, kidney problems, respiratory issues, tremors, especially like Parkinson's. These are all. And just some of the symptoms. I certainly can't mention all 250 of them. One of the reasons for this wide range of symptoms is that mercury taken into the body can accumulate in virtually any organ. 80% of mercury vapors from dental amalgam fillings, especially when they're being replaced, is absorbed by the lung and passed to the rest of the body. Brain, kidney, liver, lungs and GI tract. The half life of metallic mercury varies depending on the organ where the mercury has been deposited. And mercury deposited in the brain can have a half life up to several decades. Very, very difficult, once mercury has lodged into the brain to get rid of it fully. And unfortunately, we cannot see the brain, we cannot see how toxic the brain is. I want to talk about multiple sclerosis. Ms. Was first commonly identified in the 19th century during the timeframe in which amalgam fillings came into common use. Unpublished evidence has indicated that a significant number, but certainly not all, patients who have their mercury fillings removed will actually go into remission. So Ms. Would improve significantly once people remove their mercury fillings. This evidence has been supported by numerous studies that have been published since over the course of the past 50 years. For example, in a work published in 1966 by Bosch, it was concluded that Ms. Was an adult form of acrodynia and neuroallergic reaction caused by mercury from amalgam fillings. This was in 1966. So basically about, you know, more than 50 years ago. Bosch reported specific cases and was able to cite ongoing studies to, to show the cessation of progression and improvement of Ms. After removal of amalgam fillings. In a detailed study published in 1978, another doctor showed a strong correlation between Ms. Death rates and dental caries. Also, numerous dietary factors, of course, were ruled out as contributing to these causes. A Hypothesis presented in 1983 by Dr. Ingalls proposed that slow retrograde seepage of Mercury from root canals or amalgam fillings might lead to Ms. In the middle age. He also reexamined the extensive epidemiological data that showed a linear correlation between death rates from Ms. And the number of decayed, missing and filled teeth. So people studying the causes of Ms. Should carefully examine the patient's dental history. Unfortunately, this is still not commonly done in United States. I believe all physicians should ask the patient, do you have root canal teeth? Do you have mercury fillings? When was the last time you've been to the dentist? The when was the last time you've gotten your teeth cleaned? Because bacteria from the mouth can affect one's health. However, there's still the separation from physicians to the dentist and one of my goals with this podcast is definitely to bridge that gap. Other studies continue to establish the potential connection between Ms. And Mercury. In 1987 there was a study published that found that Ms. Patients had eight times the normal level of mercury in their cerebral spinal fluid as compared to the neurologically healthy people that were not present with mercury fillings. Other researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Institute investigated the hypothesis that mercury from a dental amalgam fillings is related to Ms. In 1994 and they found the same thing. And what's interesting with all these studies that we've had throughout the years, finally the governmental agencies are recognizing the harmful effect of keeping mercury in the body. There was an FDA statement that was published on September 24, 2020 in which the FDA issued a statement that certain groups are to avoid mercury containing amalgams due to their toxicity. Wow. It took all these years, all this research, for FDA to cautiously admit in 2020 that this is actually the case. So what are they actually saying? FDA issued recommendations for high risk groups regarding mercury containing dental amalgam fillings. A little too late in the game, but still this is a huge victory for iont. These groups are pregnant women and their developing fetuses. So what does that mean? If you are pregnant, you can't do anything at that time. However, if you are considering getting pregnant, definitely look into your mercury levels by consulting a naturopath or integrated physician and also consider replacing your mercury fillings prior to getting pregnant. Why? Because you will be transferring, not might, you will be transferring this mercury to your unborn child. Another group that was identified by the FDA is nursing women and their newborns and infants, children, especially those younger than six years of age, people with pre existing neurological disease such as Ms. What we were talking about earlier, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. So, unfortunately, anybody that's already experiencing symptoms of ms, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's were already affected by the toxic effect of mercury amalgam fillings. So I highly encourage you into looking at your body's toxicity and then making a decision to detoxify properly. Another group mentioned by the FDA was people with impaired kidney function. Why? Because we know mercury affects the kidneys. And the last group that they mentioned is people with known heightened sensitivity to mercury and that virtually everyone. I don't know one person that is not sensitive to mercury. In any case, what you can do about this is be informed and here's the solution, because I promise you to always offer a solution, not just leave you hanging. Number one, consult a functional medicine or naturopath to see the toxicity level that you have in your body. Go to a mirror and look in your mouth. Do you have any dark fillings in your mouth? Most likely these fillings are full with mercury. Especially. They look like they could be kind of made of metal. Do you have crowns in your mouth that have been placed more than 10 years ago? You might have mercury underneath these crowns, and you might say, okay, well, if mercury is under a crown, how's it going to get in my body? Well, through the tooth. The tooth has such an intricate blood vessel system and channels that it will be seeping through to get circulation within the tooth and end up in your body. Also, do you see, by any chance what we call mercury tattoos on the gut? So next to mercury filling, oftentimes there's a gray spot, and a lot of dentists say, oh, yeah, that's just a mercury tattoo, no big deal. Actually, as a periodontist, I've removed several mercury tattoos from patients, and underneath the gum, even all the way to the bone level, you could have quite a lot of mercury particles stuck there. Those particles now are in more contact with your blood vessels. You're gonna become more toxic by leaving it. There's. So any kind of mercury tattoo should be removed in order to fully detoxify from mercury. There's so many good alternatives today in replacing your mercury fillings. And definitely after your mercury fillings are replaced, do a detoxification with a healthcare practitioner to help you live a healthier and longer life. We will go more into what are the options of replacing mercury celllings. But definitely I recommend that you do a biocompatibility test with your biological dentist so you know exactly what kind of material is compatible with your body so that you don't have maybe a delayed hypersensitivity reaction. Or redness at the gum. If you like this podcast, please let people know about it. My role is to really educate you about the healthier choices when it comes to dentistry, and we'd love to hear your thoughts or any other topics that you might like to hear when it comes to oral health. Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please make sure you check out the show notes for any links mentioned in the show. If you like today's show, please invite your friends to listen as well. That would mean a lot to me. Do you have a question you'd like me to answer? Message me on Instagram rsanda this is Dr. Sandha and remember, your mouth is the gateway to your health, so take care of it in the most natural and best way possible.