Mercury - good news (sort of)

I'll repeat my first hand experience here. Had myself checked for mercury since I eat a LOT of gulf seafood. None detected. That was surprising since there are a lot of coal power plants along the Gulf of Mexico.

However arsenic levels were high, but just below threshold for any actions needed. Have not found where that is coming from yet, but trying to find out.

 

Likely drinking water. When the EPA lowered the max limit, our town was over it. Arsenic levels commonly get higher in wells running low, which is where our municipal water comes from.

 

My first thought was 'how often do take dinner with your elderly, female relatives' but I remembered this report:

Source: Report: 'Worrisome' levels of arsenic in rice – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs
I don't remember reading any follow-up.

Bob Wilson

 

No, but I eat....wait, whoa, better not go there.

 

OK, where the 83% came from then? After all, mercury dental fillings are safe according to ADA.

 

Believe pressure treated wood in USA is no longer arsenic. But arsenic is everywhere.

 

Not entirely. Mercury is a hazardous substance before it's put in your mouth, and after it is removed. I don't quite understand the magic that makes it safe while its in your mouth.

 

Exactly, the same "fairy" that makes vaccines safe, fooling all the people all of the time, err, it's my way or the highway, err, because someone said so on the internet...

 

Because chemistry matters? I really don't know about amalgam, but thinking Mercury is dangerous in ALL configuration is just as flawed as thinking Sodium is dangerous in all configurations just because if you stick metallic Sodium in your mouth your head will explode.

 

It is, but it took a year or two before all the lead paint was sold after that ban.

 

The mercury that goes into your mouth as amalgam fillings is the the same as the the mercury that comes out when an amalgam filling is removed. The chemistry is obvious - however damaging mercury is outside the mouth, it's just as damaging inside the mouth.

The "safety" of dental mercury is medical politics. The chemistry says it's damaging.

 

Some reliable cites, please, and not just from the usual scare tactics websites.

Here are some that say mercury amalgam is safe both inside and outside the mouth.

 

In all fairness, the definition of "safe" can be true in a narrow sense and not true in a broad sense.

From your link--Statements like: "No controlled studies have been published demonstrating systemic adverse effects from amalgam restorations." is not hardly any different than "No controlled studies have been performed to check for adverse effects from amalgam restorations".

Continuing: Another conclusion of the report stated that, aside from rare instances of local side effects of allergic reactions, "the small amount of mercury released from amalgam restorations, especially during placement and removal, has not been shown to cause any … adverse health effects."

This shows the difference between narrow and broad. "Narrow" means most studies have not found a big bad effect. "Broad" means no study has found zero effect. I certainly have a mouthful of Mercury and the positive effect still looks to be much better than letting my teeth rot. Yet many dentist today are using something other than Mercury Amalgam due to safety or safety perception alone, and not without some justification.

 

Here's the Quackwatch page on amalgam removal scams, with many more references.

 

For a start, here's an OSHA page on mercury in dentistry: 01/09/2012 - Dental office employers with one or more employees must comply with the OSH Act.

OSHA cares about the workplace, in this case dentists and people working with dental materials. There is this magic boundary between the dental office and inside a patient's mouth. Once hazardous mercury moves from the dentist's hand to a patient's mouth, the FDA takes over. A hazardous substance is magically transformed into being safe by the boundary between OSHA and FDA.