The video presentation titled “Smoking Teeth Poison Gas!” highlights more than a decade of scientific research funded by the IAOMT that is the basis for our statement of concern regarding the amount of mercury leaking from set silver amalgam fillings.
Voice Over:
All mercury/silver fillings leak substantial amounts of mercury constantly. The amount increases with any kind of stimulation and as a result, mercury from fillings produces the majority of human exposure to mercury. 1 2 3 The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology is extremely concerned about the anecdotal claims of safety by manufacturers and dental trade associations that are at variance with the published peer-reviewed scientific evidence to the contrary.4 The Precautionary Principal requires action once the possibility of harm exists. It does not require proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that in the case of heavy metal and xenobiotic exposure is both nearly impossible and unnecessary in our opinion.5
What you are seeing is mercury vapor coming off a 25 year-old silver amalgam filling in an extracted tooth. The background is a phosphorescent screen. The mercury vapor absorbs the fluorescent light and you can see its shadow.6 This is mercury coming off a filling that was dipped in water that is the same temperature as the human body, 98 degrees.7 This is a filling that was rubbed with a pencil eraser for just a few seconds , like going to the hygienist and having her clean your teeth. These are not small amounts of mercury. If you can see it, it's more than 1,000 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will allow for the air that we breathe.8 What about the last time you went to the dentist and they drilled on your tooth? 9 10 (Dr. Eichman demonstrates with a pocketknife) Here is the mercury vapor every time you immerse it in 110o water coffee or hot tea . . . or even chewed on it.
Voice Over:
All mercury/silver fillings leak substantial amounts of mercury constantly. The amount increases with any kind of stimulation and as a result, mercury from fillings produces the majority of human exposure to mercury. 1 2 3 The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology is extremely concerned about the anecdotal claims of safety by manufacturers and dental trade associations that are at variance with the published peer-reviewed scientific evidence to the contrary.4 The Precautionary Principal requires action once the possibility of harm exists. It does not require proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that in the case of heavy metal and xenobiotic exposure is both nearly impossible and unnecessary in our opinion.5
What you are seeing is mercury vapor coming off a 25 year-old silver amalgam filling in an extracted tooth. The background is a phosphorescent screen. The mercury vapor absorbs the fluorescent light and you can see its shadow.6 This is mercury coming off a filling that was dipped in water that is the same temperature as the human body, 98 degrees.7 This is a filling that was rubbed with a pencil eraser for just a few seconds , like going to the hygienist and having her clean your teeth. These are not small amounts of mercury. If you can see it, it's more than 1,000 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will allow for the air that we breathe.8 What about the last time you went to the dentist and they drilled on your tooth? 9 10 (Dr. Eichman demonstrates with a pocketknife) Here is the mercury vapor every time you immerse it in 110o water coffee or hot tea . . . or even chewed on it.
Mercury comes off fillings every time you stimulate them.11 12 13 14 15 And that stimulation causes the mercury to continue to leak out of the fillings for an hour and one half at a minimum. Some people grind their teeth. Some people chew gum. The dentist might send an old gold crown to the dental lab to be welded. How about the dental personnel? They are not given informed consent. Back in 1985 the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology set out to determine amount of mercury was coming off fillings . . . and here is the graph . . .showing substantial quantities of mercury were measured coming off fillings. 16 And then we estimated the total dose. 17 Then we began animal experiments and put radioactive fillings in sheep. 18 Mercury accumulated in the jaw, stomach, liver and kidney of the sheep in just 30 days. Substantial quantities of mercury spread from the fillings to every organ in that sheep's body. This should be of cause for concern for everyone. Then we measured that the sheep's kidneys dropped in their ability by 60% to clear inulin an indication of kidney malfunction. 19 Whole body imaging of monkeys found exactly the same thing. 20
Proponents of amalgam fillings claimed that sheep chew too much. 21Well, what's the problem with monkeys?
They had mercury in their jaw, kidneys, liver, intestine and heart. And further research found dystrophic bacteria that were antibiotic resistant cropped up in the intestines within two weeks of receiving these mercuryleaking fillings. 22 23 24 Further studies have found damage to the ADP-Ribosylation of Brain Neuronal Proteins.25 26 In response to the controversy and at the request of the Federation of Experimental Scientists and Biologists, Drs. Lorscheider and Vimy wrote an editorial, the first ever in FASEB that point-editorial, the first ever in FASEB that point-by-point refuted the claims of the amalgam proponents. 27
In 1991 the World Health Organization acknowledged that the predominant source of human exposure to mercury is from your fillings. 28 They estimated average daily dose from a dozen filling is 17 micrograms/Hg/day. Page 3 That should be of concern to anyone wanting to have healthy children, because mercury is highly damaging to fetuses. Experiments in sheep showed that mercury from the sheep's fillings transferred immediately to the placenta, to the unborn fetus, and to every conceivable portion of the fetus’ body. 29 It even increased in the lamb higher after birth from mercury in the mother’s milk. 30 There is no such thing as a safe-mercury filling. All mercury fillings leak mercury.
The combined effect of mercury, cadmium, and lead is just now being investigated . . .but it is not one and one. 31 One and one may make 100 or 1,000.
Why is that of concern?
Over and over again we've heard that children are exposed to lead from our environment. Mercury and lead are many times more toxic than just mercury alone. 32 33 These black corroded pitted mercury fillings are used where you must drill away a third of the tooth to fix a pinhead-sized cavity. Even if you love mercury, it's the wrong thing to do to children. It leads to broken, diseased, root canalled, extracted teeth through out the rest of the live. It is a blunder that costs the child all through their life. Millions and millions of dollars are spent annually fixing the teeth again and again. And dentists don't follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. 34 They pack mercury in children, around gold crowns, underneath bridges. They stuff it around under the gum in contact with tissues. There is mercury spreading from this gold crown to every tissue in that patient’s body. 35 Even if you love mercury, putting that kind of filling in the tooth is simply the wrong thing to do. Dr. Harold Löe, the former director of the U.S. National Institute for Dental Research, back in 1993 wrote, "The first filling is a critical step in the life of a tooth. Using amalgam for the first filling requires removing a lot of the tooth substance, not only diseased tooth substance but healthy tooth substance as well. So in making the undercut you sacrifice a lot, and this results in a weakened tooth. The next thing you know the tooth breaks off, and you need a crown. Then you need to repair the crown . . . and so it continues to the stage where there is no more to repair and you pull the tooth. "With the first filling you should do something that can either restore the tooth or retain more health tooth substance. Use new materials-composites or materials you can bond to the surface without undercuts. You can do this with little removal of the tooth substance so that the core of the tooth is still there." 36
Page 4
I would add that the cost all of that dental repair, over and over again, makes the cost of mercury fillings enormous . . . even if we don't consider the neurological impairment and the brain damage that they surely cause in dental personnel and the infertility and the heart break that they cause to so many families. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 It is the opinion of this academy that responsible government agencies should prohibit the use of these fillings until such time as their manufacturers produce the alleged evidence of safety.
A presentation by the IAOMT Our motto is "Show me the science." The IAOMT has called for a moratorium on the use of mercury-leaking fillings.46 We also caution patients about the careless removal of old mercury/silver fillings. If the proper patient protection protocols are not followed, everyone present including the patient, the assistant and the dentist will be exposed to high levels of poisonous mercury vapor gas.
End of Voice-over:
A) The complete text of this presentation with references can be downloaded from this link. Smoking Teeth Poison Gas! PDF
http://members.cox.net/davidkennedy-dds/
B) If you would like a referral to a dentist who is familiar with the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology’s Patient Protection Protocols, contact the U.S. Office. (Contact IAOMT mailto:Hgsz@aol.com)
C) You may also order a VHS version of this presentation. (mailto:davidkennedydds@cox.net)
The mercury release demonstration was made by Roger Eichman, DDS at the IAOMT Symposium 2000 in Oxford England using a mercury-vapor miner’s light (fluorescent tube) and a stimulated phosphorescent screen background activated by ultraviolet light. The video was filmed, produced and directed by David Kennedy, DDS FIAOMT Graphic, Flash conversion and Video Art by Raymond Blavatt This informational video was partially funded by a grant from The Preventive Dental Health Association of San Diego, California.
David Kennedy, DDS
President
Preventive Dental Health Association
davidkennedy-dds@cox.net
3243 Madrid Street San Diego, CA 92110 Fax: (619) 222-6981
Michael Ziff DDS Executive Director International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
P. O. Box 608531 Orlando, FL 32860-8531 Phone: (407) 298-2450 Fax: (407) 298-3075
Page 5
1. Eggleston DW, Nylander M, Suffin SC, Martinoff JT, Rieders, MF. Correlation of dental amalgam with mercury in brain tissue. J Pros Dent 58:704-7, 1987
2. Nylander, M., et al. Mercury Concentration in the Human Brain and Kidneys in Relation to Exposure from Dental Amalgam Fillings. Swedish Dental Journal; 11:179-187 1987
3. Friberg, Nylander, Clarkeson "Biological monitoring of Toxic Metals" Chapter 35 on Inorganic Mercury 1988
4. JADA, Special Report When your patients ask about mercury in amalgam Vol. 120, p 395-398 April 1990
5. The Precautionary Principal is a new principle for guiding human activities, to prevent harm to the environment and to human health, has been emerging during the past 10 years. It is called the "principle of precautionary action" or the "precautionary principle" for short. "The process of applying the Precautionary Principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action." Thus, as formulated here, the principle of precautionary action has 4 parts:
1. People have a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm. (As one participant at the Wingspread meeting summarized the essence of the precautionary principle, "If you have a reasonable suspicion that something bad might be going to happen, you have an obligation to try to stop it.")
2. The burden of proof of harmlessness of a new technology, process, activity, or chemical lies with the proponents, not with the general public.
3. Before using a new technology, process, or chemical, or starting a new activity, people have an obligation to examine "a full range of alternatives" including the alternative of doing nothing.
4. Decisions applying the precautionary principle must be "open, informed, and democratic" and "must include affected parties."
6. www.physics.ncsu.edu/pira/7modern/7B11.html
7. Svare CW, Frank CW, Chan KC: Quantitative measure of mercury vapor emission from setting dental amalgam. J Dent Res. 52(4):740-3, 1973 8. U.S.E.P.A. Mercury Health Effects Update. Final Report (1984) EPA-600/8-84-019F United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Health and Environment Assessment. Washington, D.C. 20460
9. Reinhardt JW, Boyer DB, Gay DD, Cox R, Frank CW Svare CW: Mercury vapor expired after restorative treatment: preliminary study. J Dent Res. 58(10):2005, 1979
10. Reinhardt JW, Boyer DB, Svare CW, Frank CW, Cox, RD, Gay DD: Exhaled mercury following removal and insertion of amalgam restorations. J Prosth Dent 49:652-6, 1983
11. Stock A: (The dangerousness of mercury vapor) Die Gefahrlichkeit des quecksilberdampfes. Zeitschrift Angewandte Chemie, (Journal of Applied Chemistry), 39: 461-466 (1926)
12. Svare CW, Peterson LC, Reinhardt JW, Boyer DB, Frank CW, Gay DD, Cox RD: The effect of Dental Amalgams on mercury levels in expired air. J Dent Res. 60:1668-71, 1981
13. Gay DD, Cox RD, Reinhardt JW: Chewing releases mercury from fillings. Lancet 1(8123):985-6, 1979
14. Stortebecker P. Mercury Poisoning from Dental Amalgam- A Hazard to the Human Brain. Stortebecker Foundation for Research, Stockholm, Sweden, 1985
15. Vimy MJ, Lorscheider FL: Intra-oral air mercury released from dental amalgam. J Den Res. 64:1069-71, 1985
16. Vimy MJ, Lorscheider FL: Serial measurements of intra-oral air mercury; Estimation of daily dose from dental amalgam. J Dent Res. 64(8):1072-5,
1985.
17. Vimy MJ, Luft AJ, Lorscheider FL, Estimation of Mercury Body Burden from Dental Amalgam Computer Simulation of a Metabolic Compartment
Model J. Dent. Res. 1986 65(12):1415-1419, December, 1986
18. Hahn LJ ; Kloiber R; Vimy MJ; Takahashi Y; Lorscheider F; Dental "silver" tooth fillings: a source of mercury exposure revealed by whole-body image scan and tissue analysis. FASEB J. 3:2641-2646; 1989 Hahn
19. Vimy M.J., Boyd N.D., HooperD.E. and Lorscheider F.L., Glomerular filtration impairment by mercury released from dental ”silver” fillings in sheep. Department of Medicine, Pathology, and Physiology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Abstract The Physiologist August 15, 1990
20. Hahn, Leszek J.; Kloiber, Reinhard; Leininger, Ronald W.; Vimy, Murray J.; & Lorscheider, Fritz L. Whole-body imaging of the distribution of mercury released from dental fillings into monkey tissues. FASEB, Vol. 4, Nov. 1990, pp. 3256-3260
21. Dodes, John Letters to the Editor The FASEB Journal March 1990
Page 6
22. Summers, A.O.; Wireman, J.; Microbiology Department University of Georgia: Vimy, M.J.; Lorscheider, F.L. Department of Medicine and Physiology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada Increased mercury resistance in monkey gingival and intestinal bacterial flora after placement of dental “silver” fillings abstract The Physiologist 8/15/90
23. Summers, A.O.;Vimy, M.J.; Lorscheider, F. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA & University of Calgary Medical School, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada “Silver” dental fillings provoke an increase in mercury and antibiotic resistant bacteria in the mouth and intestines of primates. The Alliance for Prudent Use of Antibiotics Vol. 9 No. 3 Fall 1991
24. Summers, A.O., Wireman, J., Vimy, M.J., Lorscheider, F.L. Marshall, B., Levy, S.B., Bennett, S., and Billard, L. Mercury released from dental
"silver" fillings provokes an increase in mercury and antibiotic resistant bacteria in primates oral and intestinal flora. Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy, Vol. 37 pp. 825-834, 1993
25. Duhr, E; Pendergrass, C; Kasarskis, E; Slevin, J; Haley, B. Hg2+ Induces GTP-Tubulin Interactions in Rat Brain Similar to Those Observed in
Alzheimer's Disease. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FESAB). 75th Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA 21-25 April 1991.
Abstract 493
26. Palkiewicz, Pawel; Zwiers, Henk & Lorscheider, Fritz ADP-Ribosilation of Brain Neuronal Proteins Is Altered by In Vitro and In vivo Exposure to Inorganic Mercury Journal of Neurochemistry 62, 2049-2052 1994
27. Lorscheider, Fritz and Vimy, Murray Evaluation of the safety of mercury released from dental fillings. FASEB Journal Vol. 7 Dec. 1993
28. WHO {Environmental Health Criteria 118: Inorganic Mercury. World Health Organization, Geneva, 1991
29. Vimy M. Hahn LJ. Klober R Takahashi Y. Lorscheider FL. Mercury uptake in sheep fetus from dental fillings, 32nd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies 14-17 June 1989 and 2nd Meeting of the International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans 8/89
30. Vimy, MJ; Takahashi, Y; Lorscheider, FL Maternal-fetal distribution of mercury (203 Hg) released from dental amalgam fillings the American Physiology Society 0363-6119/90 R939-945
31. Schubert J, Riley JE, Tyler SA: Combined effects in toxicology- A rapid systematic testing procedure: cadmium, mercury, and lead. J Tox Environ Health Vol. 4 pp. 763-776 1978
32. Koller,LD Immunosuppression produced by lead, cadmium, mercury, Am J Vet Res. 34:1457-1458,1973
33. Wedeen RP, Lead, Mercury and cadmium nephropathy, Neurotoxicology (Park Forrest Ill, 4(3): 134-146, 1983
34. Manufacturer’s directions for Dispersalloy use. The use of amalgam is contraindicated; In expectant mothers. In children 6 and under. In proximal or occlusal contact to dissimilar metal restorations. In patients with severe renal deficiency. In patients with known allergies to amalgam. For retrograde or endodontic filling. As a filling material for cast crown.
35. Till, T., Maaly, K. Mercury in tooth roots and in Jaw bones. ZRW Vol. 87 Issue 6 Pg 288-90 1978
36. Löe, Harold Dr. Research in Progress Voices from NIDR Dentistry Today 9/1993
37. Miller JM, Chaffin DB, Smith RG: Subclinical psychomotor and neuromuscular changes in workers exposed to inorganic mercury. A Indus Hyg Assoc J 36:725-33, 1975
38. Aposhian, H.V., et al. Urinary Mercury After Administration 2,3-dimercapto propane-1-sulfonic acid: Correlation With Dental Amalgam Score.
FESAB J 6(6):2472-2476, 1992
39. Echeverria, D.; Aposhian, H.V.; Woods, J.S.; Heyer, NJ; Aposhian MM; Bitner, AC, Jr; Mahurin, RK; Cianciola, M., Neurobehavorial effect from exposure to dental amalgam Hgo: New distinctions between recent exposure and Hg body burden FASEB J., Vol. 12 pp. 971-980, 1998
40. Echeverria D. Battelle CPHRE, 4500 Sandpoint Way, Seattle, WA 98105-5428, USA
41. Ehman, W.D.et al. Application of Neutron Activation analysis to the Study of Age Related Neurological Diseases, Biol Trace Elem Res. 13:19-33. 1987
42. Gerhard, B. Runnebaum Toxic Materials and Infertility : Heavy Metals and Minerals Obstetrics and Gynecology vol 52 p. 383-396 1992
Page 7
43. Aposhian, H.V., et al. Urinary Mercury After Administration 2,3-dimercapto propane-1-sulfonic acid: Correlation With Dental Amalgam Score. FESAB J 6(6):2472-2476, 1992
44. Rowland AS et. al. The effect of occupational exposure to mercury vapor on the fertility of female dental assistants Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine Vol. 51 pp. 28-34 1994
45 Echeverria D., Mercury and dentists. Occup Environ Med 2002 May;59(5):285-6 D Echeverria, Battelle CPHRE, 4500 Sandpoint Way, Seattle, WA 98105-5428, USA 46 International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology resolution Denver, CO 1985
http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/unicomm/Gazette/April4-01/mercury.htm
Researchers present evidence of mercury’s effect on brain neurons
A University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine research team has found that exposure to mercury causes degeneration of brain neurons in animals. The scientific findings are being published in a cover story in the April edition of the British journal NeuroReport. The researchers’ academic paper is supported by a time-lapse video recorded from a microscope camera showing how neurons degenerate when they are exposed to mercury.
"Our study illustrates how mercury ions alter the cell membrane structure of developing neurons," says Fritz Lorscheider, physiology and biophysics. "This discovery provides visual evidence of our previous findings that mercury produces a molecular lesion in the brain."
The research paper, co-authored by Lorscheider and U of C professor Naweed Syed as well as medical student Christopher Leong, looks at brain neurons from snails. The researchers added mercury ions to cell cultures of developing neurons and observed the neurons undergoing rapid degeneration. Nerve processes in snails and other animals, specifically the microtubules in neurons, are similar to those of humans.
The team has identified how this degeneration takes place:
• mercury ions attach to a neuron, causing its microtubules to disassemble or break down and, ultimately, leave that neuron stripped of
• its protective membrane
• some of these stripped neurons then form aggregates
• these aggregates are damaged neurons that are clumped or tangled together
• the damaged neurons cease to function as healthy neurons would
Other metals – aluminum, lead, cadmium and manganese – did not produce this type of degeneration.
"Mercury has long been known to be a potent neurotoxic substance, whether it is inhaled as vapour or consumed in the diet as a food contaminant," says Lorscheider. "This research provides visual confirmation of that."
Medical research laboratories, over the past 15 years, have established that dental amalgam tooth fillings are a major contributor to mercury body burden. In 1997 research done by Lorscheider and colleagues at the universities of Calgary and Kentucky demonstrated that mercury vapour inhalation in rats produced a molecular lesion in the brain - similar to a lesion seen in 80% of human Alzheimer-diseased brains.
Video support for researcher’s findings
Peer-reviewed animation?
When U of C professors Fritz Lorscheider and Naweed Syed co-authored their research paper on the effects of mercury on neurons, one of the most compelling proofs they had was a five-minute video that showed those effects.
The video combined state-of-the art animation and time-lapse videography to irrefutably demonstrate their findings.
The video, created by the Advanced Media for Learning group from the Learning Commons, used the same animation software used in Hollywood films such as The Matrix. "Dr. Lorscheider called and asked us to put together the animation to help explain mercury’s effect," says Dave Rittenhouse. "We just filled in the blanks."
However, the video was more than just a prop to gather media attention. When Lorscheider submitted the paper to the British journal NeuroReport, which eventually published it, he added the video as an accompanying document, making it the first time that a piece of animation was subjected to the peer-review process, as far as Rittenhouse knows.
Rittenhouse foresees the animation technology being more useful for researchers. "It’s a visualization technology. Researchers can use it to visualize scientific and research data."
The combined effect of mercury, cadmium, and lead is just now being investigated . . .but it is not one and one. 31 One and one may make 100 or 1,000.
Why is that of concern?
Over and over again we've heard that children are exposed to lead from our environment. Mercury and lead are many times more toxic than just mercury alone. 32 33 These black corroded pitted mercury fillings are used where you must drill away a third of the tooth to fix a pinhead-sized cavity. Even if you love mercury, it's the wrong thing to do to children. It leads to broken, diseased, root canalled, extracted teeth through out the rest of the live. It is a blunder that costs the child all through their life. Millions and millions of dollars are spent annually fixing the teeth again and again. And dentists don't follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. 34 They pack mercury in children, around gold crowns, underneath bridges. They stuff it around under the gum in contact with tissues. There is mercury spreading from this gold crown to every tissue in that patient’s body. 35 Even if you love mercury, putting that kind of filling in the tooth is simply the wrong thing to do. Dr. Harold Löe, the former director of the U.S. National Institute for Dental Research, back in 1993 wrote, "The first filling is a critical step in the life of a tooth. Using amalgam for the first filling requires removing a lot of the tooth substance, not only diseased tooth substance but healthy tooth substance as well. So in making the undercut you sacrifice a lot, and this results in a weakened tooth. The next thing you know the tooth breaks off, and you need a crown. Then you need to repair the crown . . . and so it continues to the stage where there is no more to repair and you pull the tooth. "With the first filling you should do something that can either restore the tooth or retain more health tooth substance. Use new materials-composites or materials you can bond to the surface without undercuts. You can do this with little removal of the tooth substance so that the core of the tooth is still there." 36
Page 4
I would add that the cost all of that dental repair, over and over again, makes the cost of mercury fillings enormous . . . even if we don't consider the neurological impairment and the brain damage that they surely cause in dental personnel and the infertility and the heart break that they cause to so many families. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 It is the opinion of this academy that responsible government agencies should prohibit the use of these fillings until such time as their manufacturers produce the alleged evidence of safety.
A presentation by the IAOMT Our motto is "Show me the science." The IAOMT has called for a moratorium on the use of mercury-leaking fillings.46 We also caution patients about the careless removal of old mercury/silver fillings. If the proper patient protection protocols are not followed, everyone present including the patient, the assistant and the dentist will be exposed to high levels of poisonous mercury vapor gas.
End of Voice-over:
A) The complete text of this presentation with references can be downloaded from this link. Smoking Teeth Poison Gas! PDF
http://members.cox.net/davidkennedy-dds/
B) If you would like a referral to a dentist who is familiar with the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology’s Patient Protection Protocols, contact the U.S. Office. (Contact IAOMT mailto:Hgsz@aol.com)
C) You may also order a VHS version of this presentation. (mailto:davidkennedydds@cox.net)
The mercury release demonstration was made by Roger Eichman, DDS at the IAOMT Symposium 2000 in Oxford England using a mercury-vapor miner’s light (fluorescent tube) and a stimulated phosphorescent screen background activated by ultraviolet light. The video was filmed, produced and directed by David Kennedy, DDS FIAOMT Graphic, Flash conversion and Video Art by Raymond Blavatt This informational video was partially funded by a grant from The Preventive Dental Health Association of San Diego, California.
David Kennedy, DDS
President
Preventive Dental Health Association
davidkennedy-dds@cox.net
3243 Madrid Street San Diego, CA 92110 Fax: (619) 222-6981
Michael Ziff DDS Executive Director International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
P. O. Box 608531 Orlando, FL 32860-8531 Phone: (407) 298-2450 Fax: (407) 298-3075
Page 5
1. Eggleston DW, Nylander M, Suffin SC, Martinoff JT, Rieders, MF. Correlation of dental amalgam with mercury in brain tissue. J Pros Dent 58:704-7, 1987
2. Nylander, M., et al. Mercury Concentration in the Human Brain and Kidneys in Relation to Exposure from Dental Amalgam Fillings. Swedish Dental Journal; 11:179-187 1987
3. Friberg, Nylander, Clarkeson "Biological monitoring of Toxic Metals" Chapter 35 on Inorganic Mercury 1988
4. JADA, Special Report When your patients ask about mercury in amalgam Vol. 120, p 395-398 April 1990
5. The Precautionary Principal is a new principle for guiding human activities, to prevent harm to the environment and to human health, has been emerging during the past 10 years. It is called the "principle of precautionary action" or the "precautionary principle" for short. "The process of applying the Precautionary Principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action." Thus, as formulated here, the principle of precautionary action has 4 parts:
1. People have a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm. (As one participant at the Wingspread meeting summarized the essence of the precautionary principle, "If you have a reasonable suspicion that something bad might be going to happen, you have an obligation to try to stop it.")
2. The burden of proof of harmlessness of a new technology, process, activity, or chemical lies with the proponents, not with the general public.
3. Before using a new technology, process, or chemical, or starting a new activity, people have an obligation to examine "a full range of alternatives" including the alternative of doing nothing.
4. Decisions applying the precautionary principle must be "open, informed, and democratic" and "must include affected parties."
6. www.physics.ncsu.edu/pira/7modern/7B11.html
7. Svare CW, Frank CW, Chan KC: Quantitative measure of mercury vapor emission from setting dental amalgam. J Dent Res. 52(4):740-3, 1973 8. U.S.E.P.A. Mercury Health Effects Update. Final Report (1984) EPA-600/8-84-019F United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Health and Environment Assessment. Washington, D.C. 20460
9. Reinhardt JW, Boyer DB, Gay DD, Cox R, Frank CW Svare CW: Mercury vapor expired after restorative treatment: preliminary study. J Dent Res. 58(10):2005, 1979
10. Reinhardt JW, Boyer DB, Svare CW, Frank CW, Cox, RD, Gay DD: Exhaled mercury following removal and insertion of amalgam restorations. J Prosth Dent 49:652-6, 1983
11. Stock A: (The dangerousness of mercury vapor) Die Gefahrlichkeit des quecksilberdampfes. Zeitschrift Angewandte Chemie, (Journal of Applied Chemistry), 39: 461-466 (1926)
12. Svare CW, Peterson LC, Reinhardt JW, Boyer DB, Frank CW, Gay DD, Cox RD: The effect of Dental Amalgams on mercury levels in expired air. J Dent Res. 60:1668-71, 1981
13. Gay DD, Cox RD, Reinhardt JW: Chewing releases mercury from fillings. Lancet 1(8123):985-6, 1979
14. Stortebecker P. Mercury Poisoning from Dental Amalgam- A Hazard to the Human Brain. Stortebecker Foundation for Research, Stockholm, Sweden, 1985
15. Vimy MJ, Lorscheider FL: Intra-oral air mercury released from dental amalgam. J Den Res. 64:1069-71, 1985
16. Vimy MJ, Lorscheider FL: Serial measurements of intra-oral air mercury; Estimation of daily dose from dental amalgam. J Dent Res. 64(8):1072-5,
1985.
17. Vimy MJ, Luft AJ, Lorscheider FL, Estimation of Mercury Body Burden from Dental Amalgam Computer Simulation of a Metabolic Compartment
Model J. Dent. Res. 1986 65(12):1415-1419, December, 1986
18. Hahn LJ ; Kloiber R; Vimy MJ; Takahashi Y; Lorscheider F; Dental "silver" tooth fillings: a source of mercury exposure revealed by whole-body image scan and tissue analysis. FASEB J. 3:2641-2646; 1989 Hahn
19. Vimy M.J., Boyd N.D., HooperD.E. and Lorscheider F.L., Glomerular filtration impairment by mercury released from dental ”silver” fillings in sheep. Department of Medicine, Pathology, and Physiology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Abstract The Physiologist August 15, 1990
20. Hahn, Leszek J.; Kloiber, Reinhard; Leininger, Ronald W.; Vimy, Murray J.; & Lorscheider, Fritz L. Whole-body imaging of the distribution of mercury released from dental fillings into monkey tissues. FASEB, Vol. 4, Nov. 1990, pp. 3256-3260
21. Dodes, John Letters to the Editor The FASEB Journal March 1990
Page 6
22. Summers, A.O.; Wireman, J.; Microbiology Department University of Georgia: Vimy, M.J.; Lorscheider, F.L. Department of Medicine and Physiology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada Increased mercury resistance in monkey gingival and intestinal bacterial flora after placement of dental “silver” fillings abstract The Physiologist 8/15/90
23. Summers, A.O.;Vimy, M.J.; Lorscheider, F. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA & University of Calgary Medical School, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada “Silver” dental fillings provoke an increase in mercury and antibiotic resistant bacteria in the mouth and intestines of primates. The Alliance for Prudent Use of Antibiotics Vol. 9 No. 3 Fall 1991
24. Summers, A.O., Wireman, J., Vimy, M.J., Lorscheider, F.L. Marshall, B., Levy, S.B., Bennett, S., and Billard, L. Mercury released from dental
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Abstract 493
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http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/unicomm/Gazette/April4-01/mercury.htm
Researchers present evidence of mercury’s effect on brain neurons
A University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine research team has found that exposure to mercury causes degeneration of brain neurons in animals. The scientific findings are being published in a cover story in the April edition of the British journal NeuroReport. The researchers’ academic paper is supported by a time-lapse video recorded from a microscope camera showing how neurons degenerate when they are exposed to mercury.
"Our study illustrates how mercury ions alter the cell membrane structure of developing neurons," says Fritz Lorscheider, physiology and biophysics. "This discovery provides visual evidence of our previous findings that mercury produces a molecular lesion in the brain."
The research paper, co-authored by Lorscheider and U of C professor Naweed Syed as well as medical student Christopher Leong, looks at brain neurons from snails. The researchers added mercury ions to cell cultures of developing neurons and observed the neurons undergoing rapid degeneration. Nerve processes in snails and other animals, specifically the microtubules in neurons, are similar to those of humans.
The team has identified how this degeneration takes place:
• mercury ions attach to a neuron, causing its microtubules to disassemble or break down and, ultimately, leave that neuron stripped of
• its protective membrane
• some of these stripped neurons then form aggregates
• these aggregates are damaged neurons that are clumped or tangled together
• the damaged neurons cease to function as healthy neurons would
Other metals – aluminum, lead, cadmium and manganese – did not produce this type of degeneration.
"Mercury has long been known to be a potent neurotoxic substance, whether it is inhaled as vapour or consumed in the diet as a food contaminant," says Lorscheider. "This research provides visual confirmation of that."
Medical research laboratories, over the past 15 years, have established that dental amalgam tooth fillings are a major contributor to mercury body burden. In 1997 research done by Lorscheider and colleagues at the universities of Calgary and Kentucky demonstrated that mercury vapour inhalation in rats produced a molecular lesion in the brain - similar to a lesion seen in 80% of human Alzheimer-diseased brains.
Video support for researcher’s findings
Peer-reviewed animation?
When U of C professors Fritz Lorscheider and Naweed Syed co-authored their research paper on the effects of mercury on neurons, one of the most compelling proofs they had was a five-minute video that showed those effects.
The video combined state-of-the art animation and time-lapse videography to irrefutably demonstrate their findings.
The video, created by the Advanced Media for Learning group from the Learning Commons, used the same animation software used in Hollywood films such as The Matrix. "Dr. Lorscheider called and asked us to put together the animation to help explain mercury’s effect," says Dave Rittenhouse. "We just filled in the blanks."
However, the video was more than just a prop to gather media attention. When Lorscheider submitted the paper to the British journal NeuroReport, which eventually published it, he added the video as an accompanying document, making it the first time that a piece of animation was subjected to the peer-review process, as far as Rittenhouse knows.
Rittenhouse foresees the animation technology being more useful for researchers. "It’s a visualization technology. Researchers can use it to visualize scientific and research data."
