Studies find no harm in mercury dental fillings

[Warpy]

Two long-awaited, government-funded studies found no evidence that dental fillings containing mercury can cause IQ-lowering brain damage or other neurological problems in children.

Children with such fillings were no more likely than other youngsters to suffer such problems, the researchers said.

The latest studies were published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12373311/

The anti amalgam people weigh in at the end of the article, of course.

[Horse with no Name]

1. That sucks

I had all of my mercury-laden fillings that lasted forever drilled out and replaced with some stuff that is supposed to look like your tooth but falls out every few years or so.:(

[Warpy]

3. I'll bet you didn't suddenly get healthy, either

I have no mercury in my mouth and my collagen vascular disease is still giving me horrible fits.

Anti amalgam crusaders say this isn't supposed to be the case. Oh well.

In any case, I just post 'em. I suppose the flames will start later.

[Ezlivin]

2. The mercury in the fillings absorbs the mercury in the fish

It's quite symbiotic, you know.

:)

[donco6]

4. Gosh, really?

You mean if we have amalgam we're NOT gonna die after all?

Wow, who'da thunk?

[HuckleB]

5. Good news, thus far.

But I do despise the way the MSM covers research in its headlines.

A little context to the results:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-mercury19apr19,1,6238935.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

"Critics, however, charged that the studies were not designed to detect problems that might manifest themselves in adulthood, as has been observed with some other metals, such as lead.

"The question of subtle effects remains open," wrote Dr. Herbert Needleman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in an editorial in the same journal."

---------

Further, the researchers themselves acknowledge that small changes in IQ could not be ruled out by these studies. I'm not an alarmist. I have a mouth full of amalgam. It's just that the headlines never seem to match what the studies actually indicate.

[Celebration]

6. Agreed

I have a mouth full of it too. These kids haven't reached the age of getting ms, for instance, which is where some say there is a link. I am not saying that there is one, but these studies certainly don't address it.

[philb]

7. Studies weren't good studies; conclusions were false disinformation

Preliminary Comments on “Neurobehavioral Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children”, T. A. De Rouen, et al, JAMA, April 19, 2006

In justifying the study design the author’s state on page 1 that “there is little or no evidence concerning health effects of low level mercury exposure from amalgam, especially in children”. In fact, there are over 3,000 peer-reviewed studies in the medical literature(3) that were submitted by parties in the FDA amalgam docket to the FDA (4), that document the mechanisms by which mercury(from amalgam) commonly causes over 30 chronic health conditions. And there are hundreds are peer-reviewed studies and clinical studies that document that many thousands of patients with these conditions have improved after amalgam replacement(2). While it is clear that hundreds of thousands (or millions) of children have had their health adversely affected by mercury, since there are multiple exposure mechanisms its not clear the extent to which dental amalgam is responsible(7).

But the main problem with the study design appears to be the choice of what conditions were tested for and the kinds of tests that were used. In describing why the chosen conditions were tested for and in what manner, the authors stated on page 2 of the study that the target organs for elemental mercury exposure from amalgam were identified to be the renal system and neurological functions(memory, attention/concentration, and motor/visuomotor). Actually, while there is documentation in the medical literature of many other types of health effects, there is little evidence in the literature on common renal effects.(1,2,3). And there are other types of health effects that have been well documented in the literature to be more commonly caused by mercury than attention or memory(though these also have been documented to be commonly caused by mercury exposure).

The following analysis shows that the basic assumptions that the authors say they based their study design on were not valid, and the study does not demonstrate what it has been suggested to demonstrate. In fact, due to the poor study design the study is not very useful. It had been documented by millions of medical lab tests that those with amalgam fillings commonly have mercury exposures between 5 and 10 times that of the average person with no amalgams (5), and that mercury accumulates in the brain and major organs in direct proportion to the number of amalgam surfaces. It has likewise been documented in the medical literature by thousands of studies that mercury and other toxic metals exposures are synergistic and cumulative, and commonly cause chronic autoimmune, neurological, hormonal, and reproductive problems later in life(3), depending on individual susceptibility(6).
Thus it was clear that the study design exposing children to a known highly neurotoxic and immunotoxic substance that commonly causes adverse effects was highly unethical. And also, the effects that might happen in the early years of exposure has little relevance to whether amalgam is safe as a filling material. The study was not designed to determine anything about the long term health or safety effects on this population of children. Or even on the most common types of conditions known to be commonly caused by dental amalgam or the types of cardiovascular effects found in a similar test of children from the Faeroe Islands.

Questionnaire results of 1569 patients (1) regarding health problems that have been documented to be commonly caused by mercury toxicity found the following distribution:

Condition % with Condition % improved after Amalgam Replacement

Fatigue/lack of energy (12) 51% 86%
Headaches/migraines (8) 37% 87%
Allergy/skin conditions (10) 34% 84%
Vision Problems 29% 63%
Cardiovascular problems(9) 27% 70%
(tachycardia/irregular heartbeat/
high blood pressure/chest pain)
Depression/anxiety (11) 27% 90%
Dizzyness(could be cardio) 22% 88%
Oral conditions (13) 20% 85%
ADD/lack of concentration 17% 80%
Memory Loss (8) 17% 73%
MS/Parkinson’s/tremor (10) 15% 78%

Similar patterns and recovery results after amalgam filling replacement have also been documented in a larger group of over 60,000 patients(2). Thousands of peer-reviewed studies documenting the mechanism by which mercury commonly causes these conditions are in the literature(3). It is seen that there are 8 major types of health conditions known to be caused by mercury that are more commonly seen in the population than the types of conditions that these studies chose to attempt to test for.

And in all of those types of conditions, peer-reviewed studies and clinical studies have found that the majority of those who had amalgam fillings replaced properly had health improvement after replacement. There are few studies documenting significant renal effects from dental amalgam exposure, so it’s not clear why the authors chose to test for renal effects. There is some question as to what the study being reviewed actually measured regarding neurological effects, since other studies have documented that mercury from amalgam and other toxic metals commonly cause ADD/attention deficit(7), as well as memory problems(perhaps more later in life)(8) and that the majority with such conditions usually improve after amalgam replacement.
It should also be noted that since the effects of toxic exposures are known to be synergistic and cumulative, the results of a study in one country or population do not necessarily apply to another country or population- that has significantly different patterns of toxic exposures, such as the extremely high mercury thimerosal exposures to children in the U.S. in the 1990s which are documented to have significantly impacted that population(7).

(1) Patterns of chronic conditions in 1569 patients and percent recovery after amalgam filling replacement, http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/hgrecovp.html
(2) Results of amalgam filling replacement in over 60,000 patients monitored by peer-reviewed or clinical studies, http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/hgremove.html
(3) Mechanisms by which mercury(from dental amalgam) commonly causes over 30 chronic health conditions (over 4,000 peer-reviewed & Gov’t studies cited),
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/indexa.html
(4) Listing and abstracts and compilation of medical studies submitted to the FDA dental amalgam safety docket,
http://www.flcv.com/fdatally.html
http://www.flcv.com/fdarev.html
http://www.flcv.com/fdarevl.html
(5) Dental amalgam is the largest source of both inorganic and methyl mercury in most people with dental amalgams, http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/damspr1.html
(6) http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/suscept.html
(7) http://www.flcv.com/tmlbn.html
http://www.flcv.com/kidshg.html
http://www.flcv.com/autismc.html
(8) Mechanisms by which mercury is documented to cause neurological conditions, B Windham(Ed) –over 150 cites, http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/neurohg.html
(9) Mechanisms by which mercury is documented to cause cardiovascular conditions, - over 150 cites,
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/cardio.html
(10) Mechanisms by which mercury is documented to cause
autoimmune/immune conditions, over 150 cites,
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/ms.html
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/immunere.html
(11) Mechanisms by which mercury is documented to cause depression/mood disorders, over 100 cites,
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/depress.html
(12) Mechanisms by which mercury is documented to cause
fatigue/CFS/FMS, over 150 cites,
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/cfsfm.html

(13) Mechanisms by which mercury is documented to cause oral conditions, over 100 cites,
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/periodon.html

[philb]

8. comments on the other study; also unethical, ridiculous study

Comments on
"Neurological and Renal Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children", D.C. Bellingor et al, JAMA, April 10, 2006

I agree with others that the study design was not a serious effort to determine amalgam safety. But the authors
interpretation of results is also questionable.

It is known from thousands of studies and millions of tests by medical labs that those with amalgam get
significantly higher mercury exposure than those without, that mercury accumulates in the brain and major organs
proportionately to the number of amalgam fillings, and commonly causes chronic degenerative neurological conditions later in life. http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/indexa.html
Thus the ethics in the exposure to a group of children to higher levels of a very neurotoxic substance such as mercury is highly questionable.

This study was not a serious test of the safety of amalgam since the exposure was to children with no previous amalgam fillings at relatively low levels of exposure for a very limited period of time. The mean number of restored amalgam surfaces in the mouth of the amalgam group at the end of the study was only 4 amalgam surfaces. And while the urine mercury level in the amalgam group was 50% higher than the non-amalgam group, this is a much lower differential than most studies of groups or either children or adults with and without amalgams.

However, even with the low exposure levels, it is not clear from the study results that there were no significant adverse effects of amalgam shown as claimed by the authors.

For example, it is well documented that mercury from amalgam commonly causes chronic neurological conditions in adults. So it might be useful to compare diagnosed neurological conditions between amalgam and non-amalgam group. The comparison is as follows:

Condition amalgam group non-amalgam group percent difference
migraines 18 14 28.5%
neurological illness 4 1 300%
psychological disorders 24 18 33%
sensory disorders 36 28 28.5%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 82 51 60%

Amalgam is also known to cause respiratory problems- the study found the following
Asthma 19 17 13%
Respiratory disorders 13 7 86%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 32 24 33%

Similarly while the authors state that there were no significant renal effects observed, it could be noted that
the unadjusted mean albumin level at year 5 for the amalgam group was 38% higher than for the non-amalgam group. I would be very concerned about the future of some at the high end of the amalgam group albumin levels.


the same comments about the other study also apply to this one