Amalgams

[Guest guest]

First of all, there is no threat from amalgams and certainly no threat from

removing them other than the expense. My dentist still uses them if there is a

filling too large for a composite filling and not yet ready for a very expensive

crown. He had been poisoned by Mercury 20 years ago from spilled Mercury in the

rug of his operating room. After the mercury was removed and he was treated, he

recovered and still works at age 67. I'm 65 and since my dad started his

practice in 1954, we got to know all the local and some state dentists, met at

annual Dental Conventions and many warnings were made from different chemical

uses, drugs, local and general anesthetics but the practice of using

Mercury/Silver amalgam fillings was beaten to death many times by many groups

but the ADA found no direct or indirect connection to Mercury as poisoning a

patient.

I would recommend each person choose the type of filling material to use,

certainly composites for front teeth but understand that composites do wear out

faster than amalgams, get discolored quickly and have to be replaced. Amalgams

rarely need replacing and some of my amalgams are 59 years old from dad's dental

school at Loyola, New Orleans.

My dad retired from his dental practice in 1986, passed away this year. We three

kids and mom (bookkeeper) worked in his office as dental assistant, X-ray tech

and development, mixing amalgams and other cleaning supplies, cleaned

instruments in a steam auto-clave and I worked on repairing dentures and

partials. No, I didn't want to be a dentist.

All of us should use a proper tooth brush, brush morning and night, use dental

floss daily. I wet the tooth brush with hydrogen peroxide, use a very small

amount of Sensodyne or store brand and add baking soda to the wetted brush.

Brush from gum to tooth, not the opposite way, behind the last teeth and use a

mouth wash of your choosing. I use plastic tooth picks in between meals, use

store brand Listerine and also use it for after shave, in my shoes/boots and on

clothes if I'm in the yard or woods as bugs--wasps, bees, ticks, mosquitoes (and

fungi) do not like Listerine.

I don't know what caused my neurological condition, atypical spinocerebellar

degeneration or PPMS, suspect viruses and maybe was subacute meningitis in the

Army, if not Agent Orange. It makes no matter as if it is indeed PPMS or SCD,

there is no effective treatment for either one.

Bill McGraw, KF5FJZ, NRA Life

" Somewhere South of Chicago "

Greenville, Mississippi