REPLACING AMALGAM (SILVER/MERCURY) FILLINGS

We can safely remove amalgam (silver/mercury) fillings and replace them with more aesthetically pleasing tooth coloured fillings. White fillings will make you feel and look healthier.

For all consultaions or if you would like to discuss any of this further please call Sutcliffe Dental
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A disturbance in the field
Teeth can work like batteries. Metal in the mouth produces electrical fields around certain teeth which can produce many bizarre effects. American holistic dentist Hal Huggins used to show slides of teeth that had been cut open to show the scorch marks they contained where electrical currents had been running for many years.

This effect is hardly surprising when you consider that, with every filling in your mouth, there are two or more metals and a saltwater fluid medium (saliva). This is exactly how Allessandro Volta's original batteries were made, and the battery in your current motor-car is essentially the same thing.

The trouble starts because of the fact that electrical currents leach the mercury out of the teeth through an effect called 'electrolysis', where damage is due to the passage of galvanic (uni-directional) electrical current. This is why some patients complain of a constant metallic taste in the mouth, which is made worse by hot fluids and salty foods (as these create more electrolysis). Most worrying, electrolysis is capable of releasing deadly mercury vapour, which goes straight to the brain tissue, where is it highly invasive and toxic.

Nevertheless, as potentially damaging as mercury in the mouth is the electricity itself. When testing teeth for electrical effects, I have seen momentary sparks of up to one volt - enough to light a small torch or flashlight. It's worth remembering that the currents generated by amalgams are formed very close to the brain, which ordinarily operated at far lower potentials (only a few millivolts). The brain lies only a few millietres from the jaw bone, where the roots of the teeth are inserted, just on the other side of the thin cranial bone and the meninges (the three membranes enveloping the brain and spinal cord). This kind of current can cause metnal dysfunction, which I often find in clinical practice.

One patient of mine, a 44-year old woman with Meniere's disease, also suffered from vertigo and vomiting, with intermittent staggering (so-called sailor's gait). She couldn't think clearly any more and had trouble with her memory and eyesight. These mental problems, plus a constant pain in the nape of the neck, left her unable to work. But as her doctors could find no clinical explanation, she was told it was all in her head - which in a way was true. When a brain tumour was suspected, tests were required to exclude this grim possibility.

Eventually, a surgeon referred her to a Dr Helmut Raue, an electroacupuncture specialist who understands biological dentistry. He measured her teeth for galvanic currents and found a 215 microampere current between a gold filling and a nearby amalgam. A week after she had the amalgam removed, all pain had disappeared, and her balance had returned to normal.

As patients usually don't consult their dentist when they experience symptoms such as headache, facial neuralgia, dizziness, sleep disorders and digestive distrubances, such cases don't often come to light.

Energetic Fields
Besides simple battery problems, electroacupuncture practitioners are finding teeth as transmitting foci to be a common cause of energetic disturbance. The problem is much more complicated than it might at first seem.

Several key acupuncture meridians cross the line of the teeth as they pass over the face. An abscess or 'transmitting focus' can create pathological effects anywhere along the meridian. As these meridians are connected to secondary organs and other sites, problems with a front incisor may have an impact on the kidneys as the kidney meridian passes through the incisor teeth. The kidneys, in turn, are related to the knee joints. With patients who have incisor problems or a bridge at this location, I always surprise them by asking about the arthritis in their knees, which they invariably have.

The consequences of these interconnections are sometimes very surprising indeed. In one case, a dentist had prepared a crown prosthesis, the type that uses a nickel post that fits in a hold drilled down the centre of the tooth to give it support. As the post was being inserted in the right upper jaw, the patient let out a squeal; she had gone blind in the right eye. When the dentist removed the corwn, she could see again. When he then put it back on, she went blind again. This was repeated several times, after which she refused the crown and had the tooth removed.

What is important about this striking example of what we might call 'virtual dentistry' is how instantaneous the the reaction was. For this reason, it could not have resulted from a chemical or even metal toxity. Allergies to nickel are not uncommon but, clearly, it would take time to develop and become manifest. The sudden loss of the patient's vision indicated a clear neurological dysfunction along the optic pathway due to a field disturbance, probably at the quantum level.

This story makes vividly clear what risks we take when we allow metal into our mouths. The resulting disturbance of the body's energy field can have unpredictable and serious consequences. If this woman had not lost her vision immediately, but had gone blind over the subsequent few weeks, it is near-certainty that the correct cause would never have been diagnosed. She would have likely ended up undergoing harmful and unnecessary interventions, all of which would fail because they were not correcting the real problem.

Three types of problem
There are really three issues where mercury is concerned. The first is the tendency of mercury to concentrate electrical fields. This is an ordinary biophysical effect and explains why people with too many dental fillings cannot work in areas where large field currents are developed.

The second is hypersensitivity. This is really more or less an allergic reaction to mercury and various estimates place this a applying to between 1 and 15 percent of the popluation. Anyone in prolonged contact with mercury tends to develop a sensitivity - thus dental students show a sharp increase in the percentage of positive patch tests for mercury sensitivity as they progress through their studies.

In passing, it should be noted that similar sensitivities can occur with other metals, notably nickel, chromium, cobalt and gold, though these are rare.

The third and most important effect has been talked about already; that is, toxicity. We inhale mercury vapour from our amalgam and swallow its compounds. This loss of mercury is increased by chewing hot or salty foods.

Unfortunately, mercury from the teeth has an especially great affinity for brain tissue but it also lodges in other body organs. It can have a disastrous effect on the immune system.

Oral galvanism
Another surprise reason for the release of the metal in its natural state entirely unthought of until the last few years, is electrolysis - that is, the electrical dissolving of metal. Amalgam-filled teeth can actually act as tiny batteries and give off a current. Examination of the inside of such teeth show oxidation (scorch) marks where the current has flowed over many years. So, far from being safe, having dental fillings is rather akin to sucking a mercury lozengne continuously!

The symptoms
The symptoms of mercury toxicity can be many and varied. In fact the range of effects covers all target organs. It seems to contribute to allergy problems, probably by increasing the body load, so any allergy symptoms can be prolonged or made worse by it. Suppression of the immune system may coincidentally lead to Candida overgrowth and it may be difficult to eradicate this organism without first attending to the possibility of mercury poisoning.

Mercury toxicity should be considered in any allergey case not responding to proper treatment. This is espcially important in degenerative and auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosis, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and even, it is said, arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Also any vague mental symptoms not responding to other treatment, such as lethargy, depression, loss of memory, etc. might well begin to recover after removal of toxic mercury.

Testing and treatment
We have been bedevilled for years by the lack of a good, objective test to show whether or not the patient is reacting to mercury. The only standardised 'scientific' test for mercury allergy is patch testing. This is very unreliable and, although positive results may be helpful, negative ones do not exclude the presence of significant reactions. We are now able, with the use of Live and Dry Blood Microscopy to detect heavy metal toxicity and tailor make an individual elimination programme.

Treating your mind, body & mouth
How we would test for mercury sensitivity:

1. Check all teeth for galvanic currents, noting the most negatively charged teeth. Anything up to about 50mV is 'acceptable', though hardly normal. Over that should give cause for concern.
   
   
   
2. Test for mercury sensitivity. If indicated then it is vital to test for safe replacements. Alternative filling substances are composite, porcelain and gold.
   
   
   
3. Test for heavy metal toxicity with Live and Dry Blood Microscopy.
   
   
   
4. It may be suggested that the patient go on nutritional supplements to leach out mercury and other heavy metals (chelation). The simplest supplement is sodium alginate, found in seaweed - kelp is quite a satisfactory source. Coriander is also efficient. The use of supergreen's may also be recommended.
   
   
   
5. Where the allergist is not the dentist it is necessary to write to the patient's dental practitioner at this point. He or she must be advised of several safety precautions.

Most important: If fillings are to be removed, they must be removed in the right sequence, otherwise the patient could get much worse. It is essential to start with the most negatively- charged tooth and then work gradually towards the positively-charged ones.

The dentist must isolate the teeth and provide efficient air extraction to prevent the patient swallowing mercury vapour. It is also a good idea for the patient to take charcoal tablets before and after amalgam extraction, to absorb any stray mercury.

For more sick patients, it may be a good idea to go on a hypoallergenic diet and take vitamin and mineral supplements through this period, starting a few days before the first visit to the dentist. See pre-treatment instructions below.

Pre-treatment instructions

• Charcoal:
  1 tablet on the morning of your treatment and 1 tablet after treatment
• Multi Vitamins:
  1 tablet to be taken 3 times a day - the day before, day of and day after treatment.
• Selenium:
  1 Tablet to be taken on the day before, day of and day after treatment.
• Homeopathic Amalgam:
  Let 2 tablets dissolve under your tongue, the day before, the day of and the day after the treatment.
  NOTE - The tablets can be chewed of sucked "on a clean tongue" at least half an hour after food, coffee, and peppermint (including toothpaste or tobacco)
• Vitamin C:
  Allow a quarter teaspoon of the powder to dissolve in a small amount of water. Take on the morning of treatment and in the evening after treatment.
• Drink:
  Plenty of bottled, still water on the day of treatment.
• Propolis and Supergreens:
  May be prescribed at my discretion.

It needs to be understood that the alternative materials cannot be expected to be as durable as the mercury amalgam. Patients are advised to go to a dentist who has had a lot of practice with these alternative types of filling.