Research has shown unusually high levels of mercury in
people who have died in recent years. This hasn't come to
light before, because it's not 'mercury poisoning' that is
written on the Death Certificate. It could be stroke, or
heart attack, or embolism. These are the biggest killers in
terms of numbers, but the question for many researchers has
been, How was the health of these people in the few years
before they died? Were they very healthy? Increasingly, the
evidence shows that people who appear to have died from a
supposedly simple cause, have, in fact, been suffering a
range of illnesses and distressing symptoms over a long
time. These range from depression, to memory loss, to lack
of sleep and low energy levels. Often they are vague and
hard to pin down, such as 'metallic taste in the mouth',
lethargy and no urge to socialise. The first of these is
the clue. Why would people taste metal? The only metal most
people in the West have anywhere near their mouths is
mercury, the basis of amalgam fillings.
Residents of Europe and the U.S. have got used to the idea
that it's a good idea to fill their mouths with metal, yet
this is a relatively recent invention. It only goes back to
the Victorian age, or the end of the nineteenth century. It
then became increasingly popular and became the 'norm'
after the Second World War. Perhaps because of the trend
for children to eat more sweets, chocolate and cakes once
wartime rationing had been phased out, there was a huge
increase in the number of cavities suffered by young
people. The answer from dentists was to drill out the decay
and fill the resulting hole with an amalgam of metal which
composed 50% mercury. This was considered to be the hardest
substitute known for tooth enamel, and certainly seemed to
serve the purpose. Many people born in the 1940s and 1950s
will have a large proportion of filled teeth, with hardly
any complete and untouched. Only in the last few years has
another trend emerged, of using white coloured resin, and
usually this has been restricted to the front teeth, where
it shows. Dentists, it seems, prefer the hardness of the
metal and continue to use it regularly, particularly for
the back teeth, partly because it is a cheaper option.
It will come as some surprise to Westerners then, to hear
that this totally acceptable feature of our modern life is
actually quite new in human history and quite rare in terms
of the rest of the world. If there was a problem with
practice, then, it would have only been apparent
comparatively recently, and only in the countries of the
world that use this method of preserving teeth. It's no
good asserting that millions of people have mercury-based
fillings and it's not doing them any harm. If it was, it
might only be now that we would notice. Of course, if it's
not on the Death Certificate as a cause of death, then it
would be harder to notice. That's similar to Alzheimer's
Disease and other dementias. The growth in these diseases
has been alarming many researchers, but it is rare to see
it given as a cause of death. Usually dementia sufferers
become weakened and succumb to other illnesses, such as
pneumonia. The figures therefore show that the disease is
prevalent and distressing for many individuals and
families, but it doesn't appear 'fatal'. That's simply
playing with words. Dementias never get better. People who
suffer from them, have them until they die. Once you've got
it, you never recover. Why shouldn't we think of it as a
'terminal' illness?
The problem, for researchers into the effects of mercury on
the body, is that they think they've found a link between
dementias and mercury fillings. This is a contentious
claim, and it's easy to play 'Top Trumps' with the research
findings – you may prefer an established name and
respected institution and the research they do, to some of
the less formal and less well known studies. Of course,
that's not how science works. If a link has been found,
then it should be provable in differing settings and with
different populations. That research has yet to be done,
but there is something that is holding it up. Science is
not, as we might expect, totally disinterested and balanced
in its view of what needs to be looked into. The fact that
research on the effects of mercury needs to be done is not
the most important consideration for some academic bodies.
They ask, What is the point? Suppose, for example, that it
could be proved that there was a link between the mercury
in teeth fillings and illness – of any kind –
what impact would that have on society? In litigious
cultures, such as the U.S.A., it might result in
multi-million dollar lawsuits. It might also result in a
complete collapse in confidence in the dental profession in
the West, the one that has been using mercury amalgam for
this generation with such frequency and assurance. It's a
well-paid and prestigious career, with good connections to
the political and economic elites. How likely is it that
these professionals would be prepared to admit that their
treatments are misguided and potentially dangerous?
It's an irony to think that the Baby Boomer generation
might find themselves dying in swathes not from misuse of
illegal drugs, self-indulgent living, or 'sex and drugs and
rock and roll', but from the simplest of things – a
metal they have been carrying around in their lives since
early childhood. Of course, such thoughts may be misguided.
Perhaps new research will confirm the industry's confidence
that mercury amalgam is a completely inert substance that
has none of the poisonous qualities of its major component
– mercury, one of the most poisonous metals known,
and one that if taken orally is completely and horribly
fatal. After all, we now know that the first Emperor of
China was smitten with the look, feel and qualities of
mercury, so much so that he took small quantities of the
liquid metal for his health. It killed him. There's no
dispute about that. The argument, from modern dentists and
their supporters, is that once the mercury is mixed with
its other components, it becomes completely harmless. That
is the claim being examined by recent research.
It's worth remembering that this isn't the only debate
about the use of metals that has gone on in human history.
The Romans used to line their aqueducts with lead to bring
water into the city in the first few centuries of this era.
We now know that people who drink water flowing across such
metal can suffer from many illnesses, including brain
damage in children. The Romans didn't know this, but it may
be one reason for the decline of their culture. The
question many observers are asking is, have we a similar
problem here, and is it worth more effort being put into
considering the possible problems before more damage is
done?
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Mike Scantlebury is an Internet Author. He has written
plays, stories and novels, but recently has turned to Self
Help and health matters. If you want to know if his
thoughts on teeth fillings have led to anything, go to his
main website and look under the heading 'Unfinished
Novels'. There may be a title there, something like
'Filling In'. Find it? Try http://www.mikescantlebury.com
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