WHO, ny rapport om amalgam!

WHO har år 2012 kommit den slutsats om amalgam som Tandvårdsskadeförbundet haft sen 1978 “Amalgam är ett giftigt tandlagningsmaterial då det innehåller kvicksilver” WHO uppmanar därför nu tandläkarorganisationer att överge amalgamet till förmån för dentala material som hör till 2000 talet
WHO committed itself “to work for reduction of mercury and … facilitate the work for a switch in use of dental materials.”

Toxic Enough to Require Haz-Mat Transport… Yet Safe for You and Your Children?

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its final report on dental amalgam, and has taken a stance against the use of mercury in dentistry — a move that could signal the beginning of the end for this toxic, outdated practice.

In their report, Future Use of Materials for Dental Restoration, WHO committed itself “to work for reduction of mercury and … facilitate the work for a switch in use of dental materials.”

The report states that amalgam “has been associated with general health concerns” and releases a “significant amount of mercury” into the environment.

It also notes that alternatives to amalgam are readily available.

WHO Finally Takes Stance Against Dental Mercury

The final WHO report urges “a switch in use of dental materials” away from amalgam.As reported by Charlie Brown, director of Consumers for Dental Choice,”[F]or many reasons,” WHO explains, “restorative materials alternative to dental amalgam are desirable.” As Consumers for Dental Choice, which was founded by Bob Jones and Sue Ann Taylor, reported, WHO noted the following three reasons for the new position: 1.Amalgam releases a “significant amount of mercury” into the environment, including the atmosphere, surface water, groundwater, and soil. WHO reports:

“When released from dental amalgam use into the environment through these pathways, mercury is transported globally and deposited. Mercury releases may then enter the human food chain especially via fish consumption.”

2.WHO determines that amalgam raises “general health concerns”: While the report acknowledges that a few dental trade groups still believe amalgam is safe for all, the WHO report reaches a very different conclusion: “Amalgam has been associated with general health concerns.” The report observes:

“According to the Norwegian Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit, the majority of cases of side-effects of dental filling materials are linked with dental amalgam.”

3.WHO concludes “materials alternative to dental amalgam are available” and cites studies indicating they are superior to amalgam. For example, WHO says “recent data suggest that RBCs [resin-based composites] perform equally well” as amalgam. And compomers have a higher survival rate, says WHO, citing a study finding that 95% of compomers and 92% of amalgams survive after 4 years.

In particular, WHO explains that “Alternative restorative materials of sufficient quality are available for use in the deciduous [baby] dentition of children” ? the population whose developing neurological systems are most susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of dental mercury. Perhaps more important than the survival of the filling, WHO asserts that:

“Adhesive resin materials allow for less tooth destruction and, as a result, a longer survival of the tooth itself.”

“Mercury is highly toxic and harmful to health. Approximately 80% of inhaled mercury vapor is absorbed in the blood through the lungs, causing damages to lungs, kidneys and the nervous, digestive, respiratory and immune systems. Health effects from excessive mercury exposure include tremors, impaired vision and hearing, paralysis, insomnia, emotional instability, developmental deficits during fetal development, and attention deficit and developmental delays during childhood.”

This is the latest revelation in a string of positive progress that has been made this year toward ridding the dental industry of dangerous mercury-containing amalgams.

Will FDA Have Dentists Warn about Dental Amalgams?

As a result of enormous public pressure from dentists, health professionals and consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also promised to make an announcement by year’s end about dental amalgam. While the agency is being vague about the substance of this announcement, it is known that FDA is currently reconsidering whether or not to warn the public of the dangers of dental amalgam, and possibly even restrict its use.

As the Chicago Tribune reported:

“ ? in response to concerns about its ruling, the FDA convened a panel last December to re-examine the issue and expects to make a new announcement by the end of this year.”

A series of grassroots protests, petitions, and town meetings in three states this year hosted by the FDA’s Center for Devices has resulted in the FDA’s reconsideration of its appalling 2009 amalgam rule.

Thanks to Consumers for Dental Choice, town meetings previously attended mostly by industry representatives pleading with the FDA to “go easier on them” are now instead being dominated by consumer advocates demanding government accountability. Their greatest hope is to see mercury amalgams banned altogether, but short of that, Consumers for Dental Choice hopes the FDA will at least make all consumers aware that amalgams are more than 50 percent mercury.

The American Dental Association (ADA) has historically covered up that fact, and, as the 1990 60 Minutes video above noted, even at one time declared that removing mercury fillings is unethical — despite the known fact that dental amalgam emits mercury vapor after it is implanted in your mouth, and this mercury is bioaccumulative and endangers your health in many ways.

Incidentally, the ADA also takes money from Coca-Cola and other companies whose products promote the formation of cavities. But the tide is certainly changing, as evidenced further by the FDA’s December 2010 hearings, which included two days of testimony that were alternatively scientific and emotional. The results were utterly convincing, even to scientists handpicked by FDA. With no dissent, they recommended that FDA promptly: ?Make sure that all consumers and all parents know that amalgam is mainly mercury
?Stop amalgam use for children and pregnant women

As panelist Dr. Suresh Kotagal ? a pediatric neurologist at the Mayo Clinic ? summed it up, there is “no place for mercury in children.”

Unprecedented press coverage accompanied these hearings, with every network and most major newspapers writing stories that FDA is determining the health risk of amalgam. Fifty percent of dentists are now mercury-free; you can help abolish the use of mercury fillings by supporting one of them. We are on the brink of prompting real change in the fight for mercury-free dentistry, as the FDA is set to make an announcement on mercury fillings by the end of 2011.

Other Countries Take Stance to Protect Against Mercury Fillings

The FDA panelists are not alone in their assertion that amalgam should no longer be used for children and pregnant women. Other countries are already working to protect vulnerable populations, especially children, from exposure to amalgam.

For example: ?The 47 nations of the Council of Europe passed a resolution calling on the nations to start “restricting or prohibiting the use of amalgams as dental fillings,” explaining that “amalgams are the prime source of exposure to mercury for developed countries, also affecting embryos, fetuses (through the placenta) and children (through breastfeeding).

Exposure to mercury can seriously affect the health of both patients and dental professionals, and early exposure to low doses of mercury (during pregnancy and through breastfeeding) increases the risk of a decrease in the intelligence quotient (IQ) among children.? According to the World Health Organization in 2005, certain studies show that mercury may have no threshold below which some adverse effects do not occur.”
?Australia’s National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) says amalgam should be avoided in pregnant women, nursing mothers, children, and people with kidney disease. As the government of the state of Queensland explained:

“Amalgam is now generally avoided for filling children’s teeth. Growing children tend to be more sensitive to the effects of exposure to any chemical substance in their environment? High level exposure to mercury (which is present in silver fillings) may affect the kidneys. Therefore, the NHMRC, suggest people with kidney disease may be more concerned than others to minimize exposure to mercury.”

?Health Canada directed its dentists to stop using amalgam in children, pregnant women, and people with impaired kidney function ? way back in 1996.

Mercury Filling Health Risks in a Nutshell

The metallic mercury used by dentists to manufacture dental amalgam is shipped as a hazardous material to the dental office. Any amalgam leftover is also treated as hazardous and requires special precautions to dispose of, as it should because it can cause wide-ranging damage to your health.

Charlie Brown states:

“ ? mercury is a reproductive toxin. Meaning, of course, it can harm your unborn baby. It’s a neurotoxin meaning it can harm your brain. It’s a nephrotoxin meaning it will harm your kidneys. There is no safe level of mercury. This dentist is playing Russian roulette with your child or you if he or she is giving you a mercury filling.”

Virtually any kind of stimulation can cause these fillings to release mercury. Eating, drinking, brushing your teeth, grinding your teeth, chewing gum, anything. If you want to see the vapors released for yourself, watch the shocking video below.