FROM ECLECTIC DENTISTRY
COPYRIGHT 1991
DR. STEVEN N. GREEN DDS

Two antibacterial neurotoxins are regularly used in dentistry to repair decay, mercury and fluoride. Industry regulators and leaders focus on the small impact of their individual poisonous effluent Mercury, and other metals of industry, lead, cadmium, aluminum, and arsenic add up, compete with and clog up the function of the essential minerals. The first result is irritability, the universal signal. Other symptoms might be grinding of the teeth, burning tongue, dry mouth, or metallic taste. Neurologic symptoms might be apathy and fatigue, nervousness, lack of concentration, depressive mood, gastrointestinal disturbances, insomnia, dizziness, headache, migraine.

Strikingly, these symptoms closely parallel extreme vitamin B1 (thiamin) deficiency, beriberi. Lead and mercury are strongly anti thiamin, binding to the sulfur entity in thiamin. Mercury also disables the progesterone receptor, promoting estrogen dominance. Estrogen (more than testosterone) is now associated with aggressiveness. Mercury compromises detoxification by displacing selenium, inhibiting the recycling of reduced glutathione, the most important antioxidant. We develop `brain fog,' or "age dramatically," an "infection blossoms," or "we come apart at the seams," when glutathione wears out.

The position of the American Dental Association is that the amount of mercury vapor coming from silver fillings is so small that it can not be scientifically proved that harm comes from the fillings. They are correct. Silver amalgam fillings account for one third to ore half of our direct mercury exposure. Burning fossil fuels for energy is the primary "untouchable" source. The other metals of industry poison us in additive ways. Scientific, double blind studies are designed to look at such a small part of the puzzle, that whoever is paying for the study generally gets the desired results. If, by accident, the results are negative, the study is quashed. Science is a tool of corporate industry. Corporations are non‑human life forms, interested in their own preservation.

The removal of silver fillings and other metals from the mouth is a highly controversial and emotional issue. I have placed these poisonous materials into the pristine mouths of children. My awareness of the risks associated with the everyday tools of my profession arose gradually. Ground as I am in physiology and biochemistry, my readings outside the politically controlled dental literati brought me to the conclusion that the environment is heavily polluted, and that we all are feeling the effects. The lead problem is better documented. A whole series of articles have run in the New England Journal of Medicine. The slightest detectable levels of lead reduce intelligence quotient in our offspring. Mercury blocks similar pathways to lead and cadmium! It can be argued that mercury is more toxic than lead. My profession has supported the use of these silver fillings for more than one hundred years.

In fact, the primary reason the American Dental Association was created was to promote the use of silver fillings. It was difficult to depart from the teachings of my trusted professors and the science of the main body of my profession. Guilt and denial made it even more difficult to acknowledge, and to accept the potential harm I have caused to my patients and the environment.

Then comes the question of alternatives or replacements.  Mostly today, dentists are using composite resins highly filled with quartz, ceramics or zircon.  Some have aluminum.  Many have fluoride added.  Plastics are estrogenic.  The harmful results of excess estrogens likely contribute to our epidemics of acne, fibrocystic breasts, endometriosis, other cysts, breast or prostate cancer and even male pattern baldness. The harmful effects of oxidized estrogens or testosterone may be mitigated by supplementing with fatty extracts of the saw palmetto berry (serenoa repens). But then, composites are just one more plastic, with a few extra things added. Extrapolations done with inadequate data suggest that these composite fillings carry ten to one hundred times less risk than the heavy metals. Clinically useful blood tests have been developed using the response of subsets of immune cells to the contents of various dental materials.  Dentists who are members of the Holistic Dental Association or The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology often prescribe the test.

Fluoride probably does not present much of a clinical problem to psychologists, but the fluoride in toothpaste is the most common cause of morning nausea. Motor dysfunction, IQ deficits, and learning disabilities in humans have been linked to fluoride. (Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol. 17, No. 2, 1995.) Breeders of purebred bulls know that the administration of fluorides makes the bull more submissive and easier to handle. During World War 11, both the Germans and the Russians added sodium fluoride to prisoner's drinking water to subtly poison the mind and reduce the power to resist domination. Dental & Health Facts, Vol. 10, Issue 1, January, 1997, Foundation for Toxic Free Dentistry, P.O. Box 60810, Orlando, FL 32880‑8010.

Even more perplexing is a 1997 article from Acta Odontol Scand 55:58‑63, by IA Mjor, The reasons for replacement and the age of failed restorations in general dental practice. Half the fluoride containing and releasing glass ionomers failed at three years due to recurrent decay. The frequency of secondary caries as a cause for replacement of glass ionomer restorations was surprising because fluoride is supposed to prevent decay.

Hair analysis is a good screening tool for heavy metal toxicity, or mineral imbalance associated with various mental or metabolic states. Repeated 24‑hour urine analysis, with ingestion or injection of a chelator in between the 24‑hour collections, has the best chance of defining the degree of heavy metal toxicity stored deep in the kidneys or brain.

Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning are rarely seen unless one is also deficient in the necessary minerals. Just about everyone benefits from the morning and evening ingestion of a multimineral supplement on a regular basis. Headaches disappear and imperturbability increases.

Natural chelators for heavy metals are garlic and onions, vitamin C, cilantro or parsley, and the chlorophyll in all green vegetables. Fill your stomach with greens before amalgam removal. We use a  suction device to limit mercury exposure during removal. Breathing piped‑in oxygen during removal is also encouraged. Further benefit may be derived with intravenous vitamin C drip after the amalgam removal.