Dental amalgam is the most commonly used dental filling material. The dental profession refers to this material as "Silver" amalgam, "Silver" fillings, or just "amalgam" fillings. Dental amalgam is a mixture of mercury and a metal alloy. The normal composition is 45-55% mercury; approximately 30% silver, and other metals such as copper, tin and zinc, dependent upon each manufacturers specific formula. It is obvious from the above composition that his material should rightfully be called "Mercury" fillings or "Mercury/Silver" fillings. However, since the beginning of its use as a dental filling material until the present time, some 150 years or more, the use of the word "mercury" in describing this type of filling has been studiously avoided. Could it be that the ADA and the dental profession did not want the patient to know that approximately 1/2 of the material implanted in their teeth was actually one of the most toxic metals known to man? The guise is so effective that most physicians do not know that they have had mercury implanted in their teeth. Mercury is more toxic than arsenic, lead and cadmium.

Has The FDA Approved Mixed Dental Amalgam?

The simple answer is NO! What the FDA has done is to approve the two components that make up amalgam i.e, mercury and dental alloy, but have not seen fit to approve "mixed amalgam," which is what is actually used as the filling material placed in your teeth. Yes, that is correct. Although charged by law to evaluate and classify every medical or dental device to be used on or in humans, the FDA has not evaluated or classified "mixed amalgam" the material used in 75-80% of all tooth restorations. To avoid classifying mixed amalgam, the FDA simply took the position that mixed amalgam was a "reaction" product manufactured by the dentist when he or she mixed the mercury with the alloy before placing it in your tooth.

What Is The Official Position Of The ADA On Dental Amalgam?

As published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), Volume 120, page 396, April 1990: "The strongest and most convincing support we have for the safety of dental amalgam is the fact that each year more than 100 million amalgam fillings are placed in the United States. And since amalgam has been used for more than 150 years, literally billions of amalgam fillings have been successfully used to restore decayed teeth."

Bio-Probe Comment: The emperical anecdotal conclusion that because 100 million amalgam fillings are placed each year and that billions of of amalgam fillings have been "successfully" used to restore decayed teeth during the last 150 years has nothing to do with the safety of dental amalgam. The ADA statement does not cite any scientific proof of the safety of implanting mercury in the humans body. What it does say is that during the last 150 years billions of amalgam fillings have been placed in millions of unsuspecting Americans who were never once told that they were having one of the most toxic metals known implanted in their teeth, and that mercury has been clearly shown to have adverse health effects related to chronic exposure.

How Can I Find A Mercury-Free Dentist?

There are several sources for obtaining information on mercury-free dentists in the area in which you live. Having said that, there is a very important qualifier that you should be aware of and understand. Mercury-free dentists have been under unprecedented and vicious attacks by the forces within the dental establishment in cooperation with state and federal authorities who are determined to keep the American public believing that amalgam is safe and that all mercury-free dentists are quacks. Consequently, nobody knows exactly how many mercury-free dentists there are within the United States and Canada.

Also make sure to read these books: Poison in Your Teeth: Mercury Amalgam (Silver) Fillings...Hazardous to Your Health! and Mercury Detoxification by Tom McGuire