Introductory Remarks

I knew of chronic mercury toxicity from my teacher Dr. Klinghardt back in 2001, however, at that time I was skeptical. I questioned why conventional medical practitioners had never even considered it as a possible cause of so many different psychiatric and physical conditions? My patients opened my eyes as they got well against all odds.

• Long Island Naturally — News 12
• Anna’s Story: A dentist who suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder caused by mercury toxicity
• Donna’s story: “How to heal Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”
• Lisa’s Story: A semi-retired nurse suffering from depression with psychosis — Mercury toxicity contribution
• Paul’s Story: A tired engineer

When I began to review the literature and talk to people around the globe about their experiences with chelation, I realized how widespread the problems caused by chronic heavy metal toxicity had become. But more importantly, I found that the conditions are entirely treatable!!! Even when chelation is done for a very limited time there is a remarkable 72% + improvement, and the improvements last for years without further treatment. There are no other psychiatric treatments that are this effective, nor are there many other examples of such improvement in medical conditions as a whole. Before embarking on a life-long road of taking multiple medications with frustrating costly side effects, we may need to consider if we should remove amalgam fillings and go through a process of chelation instead.

This review is written for my patients who are contemplating whether or not this treatment is right for them. This review is far from being complete. My hope is to give some information that can then encourage people to do more research before they make their final decision.

So please, review the facts, studies, observations and clinical examples I have assembled for you. When you are ready, if you consider it appropriate for you, we can start the process of chelation.

Mercury was introduced into hat making in France in the 17th century. It was a notoriously dangerous profession. The manufacturing of hats from fur entails a process known as felting, in which the hair was cut from pelt (usually that of a rabbit), laid layer upon layer on a conical mould, and pressed and shrunk with the steam of hot water. The advantage of using mercuric nitrates in felting was that it made the outer stiff hairs on the pelt soft and limp, and twisted and roughened them so that they packed together more easily. In Britain the process came to be known as carrotting because treatment with mercuric salts turned white fur reddish brown.

The pelts were dipped into mercuric nitrates in poorly ventilated rooms and so common were the symptoms of mercurialism that terms such as “the hatters’ shakes” and “mad as a hatter” were used in everyday speech.

In 1805, John Pearson coined the term Erethism which was used to encompass the manifestations of mercury toxicity: excessive timidity, diffidence, increasing shyness, loss of self confidence, anxiety and a desire to be unobserved and unobtrusive. The victim had a pathological fear of ridicule and often reacted with an explosive loss of temper when criticized.

Erethism
(G. erithismos, irritation) — an abnormal state of agitation or excitement. [Steadman’s Medical Dictionary]
The psychotic symptoms of mercury poisoning had been described in the Eighteenth Century, when mercurial ointments were used in the treatment of syphilis: a night with Venus being followed by a lifetime with Mercury.

Business boomed because everyone then wore hats! Hats were indicators of gender, occupation, social status, season, interests, and personality. Abraham Lincoln’s famous stovepipe hats were made of beaver felt. At the peak of the industry, five million hats a year were produced in 56 different factories in Danbury.

“Sea of Hats”, circa 1919, courtesy of the Danbury Historical Society.

Better to suffer than give up trade.

In 1934, following intense objections from hatters’ labor unions, a major scientific study was performed and documented mercury poisoning in hatters. Processes to mat felt that did not include mercury were developed, and by 1943 all use of mercury in hat making ceased.

Currently, dentistry is a profession exposed to mercury. Dentists have intensely objected to removing Hg from their trade, similar to the hatter’s union in the beginning of the 20th century. Mercury toxicity is a significant health hazard to the dentistry profession. But, where hatters were endangering only themselves, dentists are putting their patients at risk also.

How Mercury Causes Brain Neuron Degeneration

5-minute video, copyright University of Calgary 2001

Smoking Teeth = Poison Gas

42-minute video, copyright 2005 David Kennedy, DDS

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

The term “mad hatter” was used in the portrayal of a character in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. The Mad Hatter was an eccentric extrovert always obsessed with time. His watch, which he shook and looked at constantly, told only the day not the hour; it was two days late, a result of the March Hare’s putting butter in the works. This was an unending regret to him, as was his quarrel with Time, who, so he told Alice, was him not it. But his portrayal as a “mad hatter” was not accurate medically.

Mercury — chemical characteristics

Mercury (Hg) is the only metal that is liquid in home temperature in its elemental form and is considered the most toxic metal on the planet, second only to plutonium.

Chemical forms of mercury are designated as: Hg, Hg, Hg²
Hg (vapor) and Hg² (alkyl mercury) are the most neurotoxic (toxic to our nerve cells). They can easily penetrate blood-brain barrier, meaning they can reach our brain and poison it.

Hg — which comes under the names of elemental mercury, quicksilver, and liquid metallic mercury, is poorly absorbed by ingestion and skin contact. Even upon swallowing, it may not cause significant toxicity. However, its potential danger comes from its ability to release mercury vapor. It is known that 50% of amalgam (silver) dental fillings consist of elemental mercury. The mercury constantly evaporates, thereby creating toxic effects. (Connection to Smoking Teeth movie)

Hg Inorganic mercury compounds — mercury salts, like Mercury Chloride (Calomel) were used in teething powder in the first part of the 20th century. Its use started an epidemic among infants and young children causing Acrodynia: it caused erythema of extremities, chest and nose, polyneuritis and GI symptoms. The epidemic ended after Calomel was removed in 1954. This is an example of an iatrogenic condition (a disease caused by a treatment itself).

Hg² Organic mercury compounds, come in two forms:

Methyl mercury — accumulates in fish muscles and is extremely toxic. The FDA and EPA advise women of child-bearing age, nursing mothers, and young children to completely avoid swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish (golden bass), to limit consumption of albacore (”white”) tuna to no more than 6 oz (170 g) per week, and of all other fish and shellfish to no more than 12 oz (340 g) per week.

“Psychiatric Aspects of methyl mercury poisoning” was the title of an article published by H.I. Maghazaji in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 1074, 34, 954-958. During the early months of 1972, cases of mercury poisoning were reported among farming communities in Iraq following the ingestion of grain treated with methyl mercury fungicide. There were 6530 cases admitted to the hospitals and 450 hospital deaths attributed to mercury poisoning. Among them, 43 patients were studied by the author. 74% of them showed symptoms of depression, lack of interest, deficient concentration and a desire to be alone. Other symptoms included nihilistic delusions, self deprecations (uncommon in depressed Iraqi patients) and insomnia. 44% of the patients had symptoms of irritability. Other symptoms observed were: auditory and visual hallucinations and intense fears. Treatment with D-penicillamine, DMPS, Thiol resine and other agents was administered. There was a general clinical improvement in the mental state of most patients with psychiatric manifestation. There was also remarkable improvement in patients with moderate or severe neurological abnormalities: bed-ridden patients because of ataxia became ambulatory, almost-blind patients regained visual acuity, and others with peripheral sensory loss improved considerably.

It is remarkable that we have such effective tools to deal with severe psychiatric and neurological complications, presuming that they are diagnosed and treated appropriately.

Ethyl mercury — Thiomersal is used as a topical antiseptic and a vaccine preservative. Thiomersal was introduced in medicine before the FDA was established; therefore it was grandfathered without rigorous testing. There was only one study done to prove its safety. All of the participants in this study who were given a vaccine with Thiomersal have since died, but their deaths were attributed to other causes; therefore Thiomersal was deemed to be safe. Over the years Thiomersal has caused considerable controversy. Veterinarians removed it from animal vaccines in the 1980s, but yet it continues to be considered safe for humans.

Thiomersal has been implicated as a possible cause of autism. Due to very committed community-based activism, it was removed from many vaccines used in children in 2001, but it still remains a preservative in many vaccines used for adults. The Center of Disease Control (CDC) has been in the process of reviewing the use of Thiomersal as a vaccine preservative and is reconsidering the increase in the number of vaccinations administered to children. This review is being done partially because of recent increases in litigation from parents of children with autism, and partially because of the emergence of multiple studies pointing to the fact that the increase in the number of vaccinations is coinciding with the current autism epidemic. I went through my five years of residency and fellowship in the Eighties without seeing a single case of autism and I am astonished to see so many cases now.

In his book “Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies”, Kenneth Bock, M.D. compares the symptoms of autism with mercury poisoning victims and finds them to be almost identical.

Symptoms of Autism

compared with those of Mercury Poisoning

• Dental Amalgam
• Fish, especially tuna, marlin and shark
• Pesticides, fungicides
• Paint, especially marine
• Mercurial skin creams
• Broken mercury thermometers with inadequate removal
• Thiomersal (medical preservative)
• Medical and scientific calibration instruments (manometers)
• Sites of devastating accidents, such as 9/11
• Fluorescent light tubes, especially older models
• Geothermal or geological polluted drinking water
• Industrial air pollution from coal fired power stations
• Crematoria and environs

Nearly 80% of the world’s dental carriers are filled with dental amalgam (silver fillings). This unstable alloy contains approximately 50% mercury which continuously releases elemental mercury. Amalgam is estimated to contribute, on average, 50% of total Hg exposure from all sources.

Dentists and amalgam fillings

If you talk to most of the contemporary practicing dentists about amalgam fillings, you may get an unsettling impression. According to many of them, amalgam fillings in your mouth are not dangerous and can cause no toxicity. Therefore they feel it is absolutely safe to put them in your mouth, particularly in places where it is difficult to reach. Amalgam fillings are inexpensive and cost effective. Most dentists have no hesitation putting them into their own mouths, or the mouths of their loved ones. Dentists are usually unaware of any professional risks to their own health; they do not hesitate to work with mercury: mixing, drilling or replacing amalgam fillings. In many clinics, particularly publicly funded ones, amalgam fillings are your only choice. Some dentists do not even hesitate to put a metal crown on top of an existing amalgam filling.

However, the story may change if you want to replace amalgam fillings. Dentists may point out that during the process you may develop significant side effects and they are reluctant to replace the fillings. In addition, insurance companies consider amalgam removal and replacement to be only of cosmetic value. When teeth containing amalgam are extracted they are treated as a very poisonous entity and must be disposed of as highly toxic material. When mercury is delivered to the office there is a skull and cross bones sign indicating material of extreme danger. But ironically, when in your mouth, dangerous mercury miraculously transforms into a safe material.

Unfortunately most of the dentists are refusing to reconcile the current situation and become quite frustrated when it is discussed. In addition to keeping rank and file in order, quite a few dentists have lost their licenses when supporting the validity of toxicity poisoning due to amalgam fillings.

Dentistry itself is a profession at risk. In a case report study by a dentist regarding mercury toxicity in his patients, the following emotional symptoms were described:

• Irritability, critical excitability, fearfulness, restlessness, melancholy, depression, timidity, fatigue, weakness, indecisiveness, headaches, hopelessness- futile attitude about future.
  D. Lesesne Smith, Jr. “Mental effects of mercury poisoning” Southern Medical Journal, 1978, Aug, 904-905

Like hatters before them, dentists are adamantly resisting any changes to their professional practice, even though devastating health issues are affecting them and their clients.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) considers amalgam fillings to be prosthesis and has been refusing to regulate its content.

But a political /scientific/practical approach has been evolving in western countries in the last twenty years.

For example, in 1996 Canada’s advisory on amalgam included the manufacturer’s listed contra-indications, i.e. No amalgam is allowed:

• in children under 7
• with other metals
• under crowns
• in pregnant or breast feeding women
• in those with reduced kidney function
• in people with hypersensitivity to amalgam

Bowing to pressure, in 1997 amalgam manufacturers of dental amalgam, Dentsply-Caulk and Ivoclar-Vivadent, altered their Manufacture Safety Data Sheets for Germany and California to include the following adverse health effects from chronic inhalation and/or ingestion of mercury:

tremor, fatigue, headaches, irritability, excitability, depression, insomnia, loss of memory, hallucinations, psychiatric disorders, mental deterioration and resentment to criticism, bronchitis, kidney failure, chest pain and palpitations, colitis, dermatitis, blood disorder, infertility and birth defects.

Theoretically speaking, it would mean that if you are in Los Angeles, your dentist must warn you about potential side effects of amalgam fillings, but if you are in New York he has no such legal obligation.

How many amalgam fillings are too much?

My opinion is that even one is too many. But in the G. M. Richardson study; “Monte Carlo Assessment of Mercury Exposure and Risks from Dental Amalgam” (Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: Vol. 2, No 4, pp.- 709-761, 1996.) he came to a different conclusion. Authors of this study assumed that a Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of mercury is 0.014 µg Hg/kg body weight/day is safe. Therefore based on the least conservative numbers of amalgam-filled teeth estimated not to compromise health, they consider it was safe to place: 1 filling in toddlers; 1 filling in children; 3 fillings in teens; 4 fillings in adults. Of course these numbers are based on complicated mathematical formulas and may have little to do with an individual person.

Who is responsible for protecting the public from mercury toxicity?

If you look at legal cases, nobody is responsible. Let’s look at cases that were tried in court:

The American Dental Association (ADA), in court: “The ADA owes no legal duty of care to protect the public from allegedly dangerous products used by dentists. The ADA did not manufacture, design, supply or install the mercury-containing amalgams.” (Case No. 718229, Superior Court of the State of California In and For the County of Santa Clara, October 22, 1992)

The ADA does NOT certify mixed dental amalgam: “The specification is not for dental amalgam. It is only for the alloy for dental amalgam. The amalgam does not form until the dentist mixes the alloy with mercury. Therefore, dental amalgam per se cannot be certified. We cannot certify a reaction product made by the dentist.” (ADA letter, May 22, 1986).

The FDA has NOT accepted and classified dental amalgam! FDA has accepted and classified only “Dental Mercury” and “Amalgam Mercury” to protect the manufacturers. (See website for approved dental devices!) FDA says: “FDA regulates the manufacture of medical devices. No manufacturer produces mixed dental amalgams. The mixed dental amalgam is prepared by dental clinicians.” (FDA letter, April 2, 1991)

But situations have been changing in the last twenty years. In several European countries where there is socialized medicine, amalgam fillings are prohibited.

In June, 2008 the Food and Drug Administration agreed to set a date to classify mercury amalgam as a substance that poses a health risk to pregnant women and unborn babies, and children. This is a settlement in response to a lawsuit: Moms against Mercury et al. v. Von Eschenbach. As part of the settlement, the FDA agreed to and, with uncharacteristic speed, has already changed its website— dramatically. The Updated June 3, 2008 FDA website now states, for example:
“Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetus.” “Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner.”

For more information see http://www.mercurypolicy.org/.

Additional risks of amalgam fillings

Amalgam fillings consist of 50% amalgam and 50% alloys of other metals which are also toxic to the body. The combination of different metals creates a much higher toxicity than just the sum of two or more metals; they markedly increase the cumulative toxic effect.

As mercury evaporates from amalgam fillings it creates space for cavitations and chronic dental infections. So, amalgam is a poor dental material as well.

The risks of amalgam fillings can dramatically increase if other metal alloys are put into the mouth, like gold or steel. It creates a galvanic flow (electrical/chemical flow) in the mouth and accelerates the release of toxic metals from the alloys.