By Kelly Gallagher
In the summer of 2009. the FDA decided that mercury amalgam fillings are just fine for fixing cavities. The FDA’s own website states that “High levels of mercury vapor exposure are associated with adverse effects in the brain and kidneys;” the Centers for Disease Control lists a number of potentially adverse effects of mercury, particularly for children, including damage to the brain and kidneys; and the Office of Research Facilities at the National Institutes of Health states that “Elemental (metallic) mercury and all of its compounds are toxic, exposure to excessive levels can permanently damage or fatally injure the brain and kidneys.” And yet, the FDA endorses its use with no warnings, not even for small children.
The safety of mercury amalgams had been debated for many years before the FDA proposed a ruling on its classification and convened a panel of dental and neurology experts to review relevant scientific data. Impatient for protection, attorney Charles Brown filed a lawsuit on behalf of Consumers for Dental Choice in 2007, demanding the FDA withdraw all claims of mercury amalgam’s safety from its website and issue an advisory. In response, the FDA posted: “Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.”
In a bewildering reversal that July, the FDA removed its earlier cautions and issued a final regulation classifying dental amalgam as safe for all patients with no mercury allergy, including pregnant women and children, warning only that dental professionals should use adequate ventilation to protect themselves from mercury vapor. Susan Runner, the FDA’s dental products director, stated there was no “causal link” between amalgam fillings and health problems and that “patients with dental amalgam fillings are not at risk.”
Opponents are enraged that a potentially neurotoxic substance could now be treated as benign, and that a material judged hazardous enough for dental technicians to wear protective masks is considered safe for patients who wear no masks, potentially swallow fragments of mercury, and live with years, or even decades, of steady, low-dose mercury vapor release.
The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, an independent network of dental, medical and research professionals, is urging the FDA to change the ruling, ban dental amalgam and issue a mandatory recall on the product. In the meantime, the consumer’s best allies are dental floss and a well-balanced diet. No tooth decay means no filling needed.
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