The amalgam problem
Increasing environmental pollution has a directly proportional influence on the deteriorationof your health. Also heavy metals contained in dental alloys, infiltrating the inside of yourorganism from the mouth, have an influence on your condition. Amalgam is an alloy of basemetals used by dentists to fill cavities. Amalgam mainly consists of: mercury, copper, tin andsilver.
It is not a secret that mercury is toxic for the nervous system. In a chemical, divalent form(‘nonorganic form’) mercury is considered to be biologically inactive. It ‘only’ permeates into15-20 per cent to the cerebrospinal fluid (blood – cerebrospinal fluid barrier), by intestinalmucosa to the blood (resorption), to the unborn child (placental passage). Whereas, ina chemical, monovalent form, it penetrates 90-100 per cent of barriers. This form has “organicbond”, for example, with the methyl group. Methyl mercury is extremely neurotoxic (a poisonfor the brain and nerve fibres). In the mouth, a “relatively nontoxic” divalent, nonorganicmercury is used.
On the basis of certain evidence, however, in a living system a highly toxic, monovalentmethyl mercury may be formed. The above is demonstrated by the following symptoms foundin persons having amalgam fillings:
- insufficient bacterial flora in the oral cavity and in the gastrointestinal tract (in over 80% of all cases)
- acid-base imbalance
- dental caries..
Furthermore, simultaneous presence of other metals, due to an existing difference inpotentials, generates electro-galvanic current in the mouth. Also techniques of placing lining,condensation and polishing as well as prosthetic restorations and braces have an influence onreleasing constituents of amalgam.
Trace elements, minerals and vitamins (particularly zinc and selenium) play a very importantrole in detoxifying the body from heavy metals. Unfortunately, as a consequence of developedagricultural industry, arable land is barren and depleted of zinc and selenium, which is whythe entire human population suffers from a shortage of these elements, and detoxificationfrom certain heavy metals is insufficient. Here, fortunately, Dietary Supplements containingminerals may be helpful, i.e. ZINC and SELENIUM in the form of capsules.
“Long-term toxicological rule” – is a principle, which describes the phenomenon of ourorganism, which may compensate for the harmful factor for many years, seemingly notexperiencing any consequences. The longer the organism is continuously exposed to a givenfactor, however, the more long-lasting is the detrimental effect later and it manifests suddenlyafter a longer latency period.
It is particularly clear in case of amalgam fillings: the organism has a continuous contact witha poisonous metal, for which even Occupational Medicine has set certain limits. Theseconcern not only toxic doses, but also the time of exposure and exposure-free period.The guidelines for “Maximum values of concentrations in a workplace (MAX-S)” provide asfollows:
=> the “MAX-S” value for mercury compounds is exclusively defined for healthy adults, and it only permits 8 hours of daily exposure, after which there must be a 16-hour break in exposure.
In so defined conditions, the maximum exposure to that substance may occur only in 200 working days in a year.
Out of 365 days as many as 165 days must be excluded from exposure!
For amalgam ‘holders’, particularly those with elevated content of mercury compounds insaliva, the values of mercury vapours concentration in the mouth – compared to ‘MAX-S’ -are very often exceeded to the power of ten, especially when drinking and eating hot meals,acidic stimulants and spicy dishes or drinks. In the phase of hyperacidity of saliva there isan unpredictable rise of mercury vapour concentration!
The symptoms of chronic mercury poisoning include::
- immune system weakening
- frequent infections
- depressive mood
- psychomotor drive reduction with simultaneous irritability
- attention deficit
- skin rashes
- neuro-dermic eczema
- increased muscular tension in all areas – mainly in the neck and back area
- headaches
- increased susceptibility to allergies
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- vertigo
- metallic taste in the mouth
- endocrine disruption (e.g. ovarian cysts, menstrual disorders, amenorrhoea, miscarriages,hair loss, etc.)
- infantile, unreasonable behaviours, childish cravings
- increased cancer morbidity
- increased sensitivity to electromagnetic stress … and many others.
Heavy metals, once swallowed, reach the cardiovascular system and organs, takingthe highest toll on the liver and kidneys. Mercury also reaches the circulatory system directlythrough the mucous membrane of the airways, and through the olfactory nerve, directly tothe brain. It has been proven that a gaseous form of mercury from amalgam fillings easilypermeates the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier and reaches the pituitary gland, and thatmercury concentration correlates with the number of fillings. In new-borns, whose mothershad amalgam fillings, a four-times greater mercury concentration was found compared to themothers!
The law of harmful stimuli accumulation ("the overfilled barrel model") provides thatthe effect of health damage caused by one specific impulse, initiates much worse reactions ofan organism than a number of different poisons acting jointly. This is how mercury interactse.g. with injected medical agents, dioxins, cleaning agents, wood protection agents, cosmetics,fungal infections (which are the consequence of therapy with antibiotics), allergenic foodadditives, ozone, radioactive environmental pollution, electromagnetic stress, industrialemissions to the air and water, soil contamination with pesticides and many others … – andthese, nowadays, are the normality!
A wide ranging, abundant and scattered symptomatology of organs is greater than whenmercury would have acted alone. If one removes the toxic amalgam filling, the model ‘barrel’will be emptier. According to statistics there are over 500 tonnes of amalgam in the teeth ofGermans. In former German states alone, ca. 22 tonnes of mercury for amalgam fillings areused within a year. The half-life of mercury is 18 years, which means that only after 18 yearshalf of the toxin is removed. German municipalities are afraid that the soil of cemeteries willbe contaminated by amalgam release!
In Sweden, since 1995, the application of amalgam has been prohibited for children and adolescents, and since 1997 also for adults. Japanese Ministry of Health awards high compensation to dentists who do not use any amalgam fillings. Since 1992, a limit has been in force for the use of ‘gamma – 2 – amalgam’ in favour of a new ‘non – gamma – 2 – amalgam’. However, in terms of toxicology, it does not bring any benefits, as it contains more tin, and tin is certainly an even greater poison than mercury to the immune system.
Text written by Janusz Vorreiter, MD PhD.