Mercury is known to be a toxic heavy metal , so toxic that is required to be carefully disposed of in special hazardous materials containers when it’s removed from your teeth by the dentist. The environment is protected from mercury, but we aren’t.
How it makes sense to put it the teeth of human beings in the first place doesn’t make sense to me.
But it’s been standard practice to use mercury amalgam for dental fillings for more than 100 years. Since it’s such an old material, it’s grandfathered in under the FDA guidelines. It has never had to undergo the same safety studies that new filling materials have to go through.
But a change is starting to occur.
In 2013, The Minamata Convention on Mercury adopted a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have banned the use of amalgam fillings. And a recent study by the European Union showed that 80% of those polled were in favor of an immediate ban on mercury dental amalgam fillings
The EU Commission has decided to go for a proposal to “phase down mercury dental amalgam” rather than to ban it altogether. But a dentist by the name of Dr. Graeme Munro-Hall has created a petition to the EU Commission to change the wording from a phase down to a phase out.
If you would like to add your name in support of a complete ban of mercury fillings in the European Union, go to Phase Out Mercury Amalgam Fillings.
If the European Union phases out mercury fillings, perhaps the USA will too.
Meanwhile, you can just say no to mercury fillings. There are safer materials available. Better yet, take good care of your teeth. I have never had a filling my entire life.
