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Return To Book 3 Table Of Contents Dangers In Dentistry… Growing up, I recalled hearing that dentists had the highest suicide rate among professionals. Indeed, this had been documented for decades – even within journals for the field of dentistry. Then – growing up - I had been told suicide in dentists was due to high stress levels. Now – perhaps I understood suicide in dentists a little more too. Indeed, studies were now showing that dentists were no more susceptible to stress than anyone else. That certainly made sense. Being a dentist, surely, had to be less stressful than say – a neurosurgeon – or say - a soldier on the front lines of a war zone – or say - a police officer. These were “stressful” jobs! Where was the stress to being a dentist? I had been told as a child that the stress came from looking into the eyes of persons as they worked and “seeing the fear and pain” in their patients. Again, as a child – I had believed that. As an adult – I no longer did! First of all, with modern anesthetics – there was basically – no pain. As for the “looking in the patient’s eyes” – well, if a dentist was looking in my eyes as opposed to my mouth while working on my teeth, then, obviously, at some point in my many visits to the dentist, I would have noticed that – and perhaps looked for another, more focused dentist. The fact was that if there were any pain at all, I would have experienced it while the dentist was looking in my mouth and “doing something to cause the pain” and as such, he would not have been looking directly into my eyes at the time that “pain” would have actually happened. But, again, really, a visit to the dentist today, was virtually painless. Patients – at least for the most part – were smiling and happy when they left. In my opinion, the “stress” argument to high suicide rates in dentists – simply did not make any sense. So, why did we see high rates of suicide in dentistry? Could this possibly have anything to do with – mercury – the very substance dentists worked with each day – the very substance known to lead to neural degeneration and to affect hormones and neurotransmitters in the body – neurotransmitters associated with “moods” and “emotions… the very substance that appeared related to so many disorders involving serious depression… and the very substance the University of Calgary had clearly shown to devastate neurons! Could it be that dentists were suffering from damage due to mercury exposure and that this resulted in that “lack of communication between the frontal lobe (control of emotions) and other parts of the brain involved in overall sensation of “emotions”? A dentist as he worked on his patient’s teeth would have direct exposure to very toxic mercury fumes. Was it not interesting that the sense of smell was found in the frontal and temporal lobes – both areas very much impacted in so many of these disorders. The frontal lobe had “control of emotions” within it. Hum… toxic mercury fumes… the sense of smell and control of emotions… and the frontal lobe… depression and suicide in dentists – could there possibly be a correlation here? Not surprisingly, dentists showed elevated levels of mercury in their urine (refer to: Mercury Amalgam Toxicity Report, Life Extension Magazine, May 2001)! An excellent article by Gammal, entitled Scientifically Proven Facts About Mercury & Dental Amalgam stated that mercury/silver fillings contained about 50% mercury and that mercury from dental amalgams continuously “leaked” throughout the lifetime of the filling. Mercury vapor was the main way that mercury came out of amalgam. In addition, mercury vapor was absorbed at a rate of 80% via the lungs into arterial blood. Mercury was known to “love sulphur” – something found in proteins, blood, etc. and as such, it had the ability to interfere with all processes in the human body. Mercury vapor was also directly absorbed into the brain as it crossed the blood brain barrier. Mercury was also known to store first in the unborn child… then in the mother – perhaps again explaining what appeared to be such an incredible rise in miscarriages. Mercury was also known to very much interfere with the endocrine system and severely inhibited reproductive functions. Mercury was also known to induce auto-immune disorders (where the body attacks itself… such disorders… could potentially include things like AIDS). Interestingly, amalgams also produced electrical currents… measured in micro amps… the central nervous system was said to operate in nano amps or 1000 times less than a micro amp. Very interesting again when one considered that epilepsy and seizures basically resulted in the “short circuiting” of the brain! Note that hot drinks, chewing, grinding of teeth, brushing teeth, etc. all increased the amount of mercury released from dental amalgams. These were but a few of at least 50 scientifically proven facts about mercury. A link to the information provided by Gammal was available at http://www.algonet.se/~leif/FUSCIFCT.html as well as at http://www.zip.com.au/~rgammal/CNSMercuryExposure.htm. In my opinion, this was a “must read” for all persons interested in these issues. Note that when it came to dentistry, gold crowns/fillings also appeared to be a problem as these could increase the rate at which mercury affected the body. Thus, gold was probably not a good option for persons who already had “silver/mercury” amalgams. Given mercury very much went from the olfactory system to the brain… in my opinion, there could be very little doubt that there certainly existed “dangers in dentistry” – for dentists themselves, their patients, and their families as they certainly had to take mercury particles home with them (i.e., on clothing, skin, etc.) after a day in the office. Persons concerned about dental amalgams should know that removing them required a very specially trained dentist. Most dentists were not trained in these procedures, but there were certainly some out there. Free services for finding “mercury-free” dentists were available. Note that some "normal dentists" stated they provided “mercury-free” dentistry services in that they had “alternatives” to mercury/silver fillings. These were not “mercury-free” dentists. To be truly “mercury-free”, a dentist needed very specialized training and should provide no mercury amalgams whatsoever – and hence, would take many precautions and engage in special procedures in order to minimize mercury exposure (i.e. vapors, fragments, etc.) not only for his patients but for himself and his family as well! |
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