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amalgam: a dental "silver filling" which a dentist places in a patient's tooth after a cavity is created by drilling out decay. Amalgam restorations consist of mercury, silver, tin, copper, and a trace amount of zinc. The dental amalgam has two fundamental flaws that adversely effect a patient's health. The first fundamental flaw is that all amalgam metals are cations. The net result of the tendency for covalent, ionic and metallic bonding and van der Waals forces between amalgam cations is a weak repulsion. So there is a sustained release of mercury and other metals from the amalgam into the body. Researchers have measured a daily release of mercury on the order of 10 micrograms from the amalgam into the body. Mercury is a toxic metal; the most minute amount damages cells. The second fundamental flaw is that there are five dissimilar metals in the amalgam. Galvanic action between these metals in inevitable (the dissimilar metals form a battery). Galvanism produces electricity that flows through the body. The electric currents produced by the amalgam typically are between 0.1 and 10 microamps, compared to the body's natural electric current of 3 microamps. The mercury challenges systemic functions of every individual and of developing fetuses, so it can lead to health problems and fetal malformations. Mercury leakage and its subsequent pathophysiologic effects are most often slow, insidious processes. So health problems caused by dental mercury poisoning are perceived many years after the amalgams are placed.
(www.amalgam.org)
Dentistry Without Mercury: a book by Sam and Michael F. Ziff that reveals the dangers of mercury in dentistry, and reveals the contradictions in the work of Stanley Saxe, who has written that dentistry with mercury bears no ill affects.
(www.amazon.com)
Electrogalvanism galvanic currents, or electrogalvanism exists when there are two or more different metals in the salt water or elecrolyte environment that exists in your mouth due to the continued production of saliva. The electrical energy coming from your crowns and fillings, which can be measured, can be considerable and can have significant negative effects on your body, particularly the nervous system and brain function.
(www.haroutunian.ch/english_metals_and_dentistry.htm#l'electrogalvanisme%20dentaire)
It’s All in Your Head: The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness: A book by Dentist Hal A. Huggins who has led the fight to alert the public and health professionals to the dangers of using mercury in the amalgams used to fill teeth. Here he describes his battle with the American Dental Association and the results of his research studies. After explaining mercury toxicity, he describes such conditions as neurological and immunological diseases that can result from this toxicity. His discussion also includes the diagnosis of mercury toxicity and the pros and cons of having mercury amalgam fillings removed. He indicates that there are often no definitive answers in the diagnostic process and that the final proof of mercury toxicity is whether the patient feels better when mercury fillings are removed. A useful if very detailed look at a continuing health controversy.
(www.amazon.com)
Patent on Silver Based Filling Materials: the American Dental Association has obtained an exclusive license for a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) patent on silver-based filling materials. The patent resulted from developmental work at NIST supported by the National Institute of Dental Research to find an alternative to mercury-containing dental restoratives and a technique to place or consolidate the restorative using normal dental hand tools.
(http://www.msel.nist.gov/mselannualreport97/dental&medical.html)
Uninformed Consent - The Hidden Dangers in Dental Care: a book written by Doctors Huggins and Levy, who have spent years studying the toxic effects of dental materials. They have written an authoritative book that accomplishes their stated purpose of "making the reader aware of the enormous and wide-ranging effects of dental toxicity." The authors have done an excellent job of describing the medical research in lay terms. They cover dental sources of toxicity, the body's reactions, specific diseases suspected or known to be caused by dental materials, and suggestions for dealing with such toxicity. Although a chapter with more clearly detailed information about alternative dental materials and detoxification methods would have been helpful, this work is well researched and well written.
(http://www.amazon.com)
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