Mercury Poisoning From Dental Amalgam

This report is a critical evaluation of the use of dental amalgam with special consideration of the possibility of chronic mercury poisoning. The description of psychic and somatic symptoms associated with corrosion of amalgam might help people with similar symptoms to recognize the possible source of their problems. Medical practitioners need to recognize the characteristic manifestations of mercury poisoning and it is also my hope that this report might help dentists to a better understanding of the hazards of amalgam and combinations of metals. The onset, development and disappearance of symptoms in relation to the dental treatments, an examination of my corroded amalgam fillings (details will be published elsewhere) and a knowledge of corrosion mechanisms, leads to the conclusion that corroding amalgam was the cause of a syndrome, typical of chronic mercury poisoning. All my observations, both as a patient and as a corrosion scientist, have reasonable explanations and can be supported by data from the scientific literature. Analyses of saved silver amalgam fillings showed that they were badly corroded. Corrosion attacks on almost every aged amalgam filling show that assurances that amalgam is a stable alloy can be dismissed. Statements that amalgam is not harmful are unfounded and based on short-term considerations. Galvanic coupling of gold and amalgam gives a guarantee for mercury poisoning within a relatively short time. The label "oral galvanism" is insufficient and misleading since the problem is crevice corrosion of amalgam. For various reasons the hazards of amalgam have been disregarded for at least 50 years, resulting in insufficient information about its dangers and an unsatisfactory development of alternative filling materials. The dangers of insidious mercury intoxication from amalgam are known at least since the 1920s, but after more than half a century the problem seems more to the fore than ever. Voices have often been raised, warning that silver amalgam (and before that copper amalgam) is not harmless and describing symptoms of poisoning. In spite of this, the amalgam situation in the mouth is seldom considered in medical practice. A study of the subject and today's situation, leads one to conclude that the dental and medical care