US State Department Endorses Amalgam Phase-Down at UNEP Conference

U.S. government calls for the phase-out of amalgam!

In an extraordinary development that will change the global debate about amalgam, the United States government has announced that it supports a “phase down, with the goal of eventual phase out by all Parties, of mercury amalgam.”  This statement – a radical reversal of its former position that “any change toward the use of dental amalgam is likely to result in positive public health outcomes” –  is part of the U.S. government’s submission for the upcoming third round of negotiations for the world mercury treaty.*

 While couched in diplomatic hedging – remember it is still early in the negotiations – this new U.S. position makes three significant breakthroughs for the mercury-free dentistry movement:

1.       The U.S. calls for the phase-out of amalgam ultimately and recommends actions to “phase down” its use immediately.  Incredibly, the government adopted three actions that the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry and Consumers for Dental Choice 
          proposed at the negotiating session in Chiba, Japan.  Our key ally, The Mercury Policy Project, laid the groundwork for this success at a World Health Organization meeting in 2009!

 2.       The U.S. speaks up for protecting children and the unborn from amalgam, recommending that the nations “educate patients and parents in order to protect children and fetuses.”

 3.       The U.S. stands up for the human right of every patient and parent to make educated decisions about amalgam.

What does this mean?  Our position – advocating the phase-out of amalgam – is now the mainstream because the U.S. government supports it.  Who is the outlier now?  It’s the pro-mercury faction, represented by the World Dental Federation and the American Dental Association.  With the U.S. continuing its leadership role in this treaty, we will broadcast the U.S. position to other governments around the world, encouraging them to support amalgam “phase downs” leading to phase-outs not only globally, but within each of their countries.

We applaud the U.S. government.  But tough work lies ahead.  For example, we must demonstrate to the world that the available alternatives – such as composites and the adhesive materials used in atraumatic restorative treatment (“ART”) – can cost less than amalgam and will increase access to dental care particularly in developing countries.

 For now though, let’s mark this watershed in the mercury-free dentistry movement: the debate has shifted from “whether to end amalgam” to “how to end amalgam.”

Charles G. Brown
National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice
President, World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry
5 April 2011

Safe Dental Materials List

Which Dental Materials Are Safe?
Find out what Dr. Marvin Uses!

Dr. Marvin’s Safe Dental Materials List

Please remember that these materials are not good for everyone.  In other words, you may be sensitive to some or all of these materials.  That’s why we incorporate several different methods to determine biocompatibility.  Here are the three methods:

1. Electrodermal Testing (EDT) or Electrodermal Screening (EDS) or Electroacupuncture according to Voll (EAV)
2. Applied Kinesiology aka Muscle Testing
3. Blood-Serum Testing using Clifford Reactivity List and Biocomp Laboratories

Which one is best for you?

That depends.  We’ve seen instances where one patient is ok with the Blood Serum testing for a material but when we muscle test them, they are “weak.”

Just remember that most dentists do not use biocompatible materials.  They use what works best in their hands.  In fact, most don’t even know or use the word biocompatible.  It is in my opinion that they should know what’s IN the dental materials before they use them.  AND… it is important for you to ASK.  I mean… it is your mouth and your money so please make that extra effort to ask the dentist what it is.

WARNING:  This list has changed multiple times in the past year.  We always stay on the cutting edge of new dental products and sometimes patients come to us with better, more biocompatible products.  When that happens, we’ll up date this list.  So keep this list handy and check back here often for updates.  I can honestly say that I’ll be updating this list (taking off products and adding dental materials) about every 3 months.

The Enigma of Parkinsonism in Chronic Borderline Mercury Intoxication

A 47 year old female dentist suffered from hemiparkinsonism which had started eighteen months earlier and was manifested mainly by resting tremor and cogwheel rigidity. A baseline quantitative urinary mercury excretion was 46 micrograms/day. The patient was treated with chelating agent d-penicillamine for a week. Chelation therapy resulted in clinical improvement of parkinsonism and in dynamic changes in daily urinary mercury excretion with a prompt increase to 79 micrograms/day, a subsequent decline followed by increase in the mercury urinary excretion. After a week chelation therapy was stopped. During a follow-up period of five years, the neurological status remained unchanged after the initial penicillamine-induced improvement. This case may be evidence, therefore, of a rare clinical variant of elemental mercury intoxication associated with parkinsonism, in the absence of most classical neuropsychiatric signs of chronic mercurialism.

Finkelstein Y, Vardi J, Kesten MM, Hod I. Neurotoxicology. 1996 Spring; 17(1):291-5. 8784840 PubMed

Metal Exposure from Amalgam Alters the Distribution of Trace Elements in Blood Cells and Plasma

Twenty-seven consecutive patients with health problems associated with dental amalgam were recruited. In spite of thorough medical examinations, there were no diagnoses available. The patient group was dominated by women. A healthy age- and sex-matched control group with dental amalgams without symptoms was also recruited. Metal level monitoring in plasma and nuclear microscopy of isolated individual blood cells were carried out. Significant increases of copper, iron, zinc and strontium were found in patient plasma. There was no significant difference in plasma selenium between the groups. Mercury was significantly increased in patient plasma, although there was overlap between the groups. In erythrocytes a significant increase in calcium and a significant decrease in magnesium, copper, manganese and zinc were found. Calcium, magnesium, manganese and copper increased in patient neutrophil granulocytes. A significant decrease was found for zinc. A conspicuous finding was the presence of measurable mercury in a few of the cells from the patient but not in the control group. 

Lindh U, Carlmark B, Gronquist SO, Lindvall A. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2001 Feb; 39(2):134-42. 11341747 PubMed.

Autism: Treatment-Chelation of Mercury

We currently have over 500 autistic patients under treatment with DMSA ranging in age from 1 to 24 years old. In general, we do not expect to see any behavioral, language, or social improvements until at least some of the CNS mercury has been removed. As of 1/15/01, we had 85 patients who had finished DMSA alone and had completed at least 4 months of DMSA + lipoic acid. The results of treatment in these patients are presented below:

Once lipoic acid is added, we usually track mercury excretion via tests of fecal mercury. We have noticed a large dependence of excretion on age of patient with the younger patients excreting much more mercury than the older patients. We think this difference in rapidity of excretion may explain the differences in response between the various age groups. We have 6 patients, all 1 to 2 years of age who are finished with treatment by measurements of urinary and fecal mercury excretion. These 6 patients are “normal” by parent reports and repeat psychological testing. We have no children over the age of 2 who are finished with treatment. The rapidity of excretion seems to decrease markedly with each additional year of age. There are several children, mostly in the younger age groups, who have made remarkable progress to the point of being able to be mainstreamed in school, but who are still have some “oddities” of behavior — none of these children have completed treatment yet. These are very early results, but appear very promising. As more data is gathered, outcomes will be better able to be predicted, including length of treatment as well as ultimate prognosis. http://www.healing-arts.org/children/holmes.htm 

Amy S. Holmes, M.D.