To the Editor of the Trenton Times:
As a cosmetic dentist in New Jersey, I had my own personal moonwalk this past year, when the FDA announced that it was changing its website to reflect the fact that mercury dental fillings should not be placed in the mouths of pregnant women, and children under the age of six. I am a dental fillings dentist in New Jersey who has had been one of the principal anti-mercury speakers at hearings the FDA held in September of 2006.
For a full text of my speech, see http://www.cent4dent.com/html/mercury_issues/fdaletter.htm
Why it took them so long to change their stance reflects how slowly things move in DC, and also the fact that it takes strong lobbyists and threats of litigation to make anything happen.
In my mind, the changes to the website were a start, but did not go far enough. I was asked by the FDA in 2008 for my opinions on their FDA mercury filling changes, and I let them know it did not go far enough. Why ban it in children under 6 when the teeth that are going to be in their mouths their entire lifetimes don't erupt into the mouth until age 6? Why ban it for pregnant women? Shouldn't the ban be for all women of child-bearing age?
The publication of Mr. Brown's letter to the editor in the December 31st Times deserves some comment as well. While, as Mr. Brown points out, there is a socio-economic stratification as to who receives mercury fillings and who receives composite resin, there is far more to the story than that. Most dentists who are still placing mercury fillings simply don't understand the science. In fact, I would posit that most dentists who still place mercury fillings have never been to a lecture (even in dental school) on the fact that mercury is the most toxic, naturally-occurring substance on the planet surface.
Dentists have been hoodwinked into believing that once placed in the mouth, the mercury fillings become inert. Nothing could be further from the truth. Curious patients should ask their dentist how they store unused filling material, or better still, ask their assistants. Mercury scrap cannot be thrown out with the trash, or flushed down the toilet. Many dentists have a cavalier attitude about it. Ask them why the ADA recommends storage of scrap in a tightly closed glass container, under a high-specific-gravity fluid like anti-freeze. Mercury scrap must be disposed of using a state-licensed hauler and refiner. Dental offices in New Jersey are now required to be equipped with mercury separators to recapture fine particulate mercury drilled out of patients' mouths before they burden sewage treatment facilities.
If you are looking for a cosmetic dentist that does dental fillings in New Jersey, make sure they educate you about your choices. Very often dentists don't even offer posterior resins as an option. The decision is often insurance-driven (isn't it time that dental insurance carriers recognize that posterior resin fillings have been around, and successful for over 20 years? They need to be mandated to pay for them, rather than for the least expensive (and toxic) alternative?) Patients' decisions are often made based on financial rather than health-related costs.
It is time for the dental patients of this state to understand that there is science that proves mercury fillings are not inert. When will dentists begin accepting science, rather than diatribe? The Vimy sheep study, performed almost 20 years ago was designed to prove that mercury fillings were, as the ADA stated, and continues to state "inert". It proved the exact opposite. The ADA's response: "That research was done on sheep, it wasn't done on humans." Talk about trying to pull the wool over people's eyes! The study was duplicated, with the same results, on primates.
Patients (and their cosmetic dentists in New Jersey) need to understand that there is a safe way to remove mercury fillings from mouths: The IAOMT protocol. Anything less exposes patients to unnecessarily high levels of mercury when fillings are drilled out.
There are some patients more prone to the effects of mercury (http://www.toxicteeth.org/MercurySymptoms.doc) than others. Until there are tests to determine who these people are, shouldn't' everyone be treated as if they were in the "more prone" group? Certainly, the reason that dentists began wearing gloves and masks for over 20 years was because we needed to treat everyone as if they were a potential AIDS carrier.
The health effects of mercury fillings in those whose genome is deficient in the APO E-2 allele can be devastating. There's a reason that there is something called "Mad Hatter's Disease". Centuries ago, people who worked the felt to shape hats used mercury to do so. These people went mad. Here's another history lesson for you:
To contact the New Jersey dentist who is against the FDA Mercury Filling regulations:
Stephen J. Markus DMD FACE
209 White Horse Pike
Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
856 Smile SJ (856.546.0665)
About The Author:
Dr. Stephen J. Markus is interested in helping people. To learn more about Dental filling dentist new jersey, new jersey dentist and Cosmetic dentist new jersey visit www.cent4dent.com
http://www.articleclick.com/
As a cosmetic dentist in New Jersey, I had my own personal moonwalk this past year, when the FDA announced that it was changing its website to reflect the fact that mercury dental fillings should not be placed in the mouths of pregnant women, and children under the age of six. I am a dental fillings dentist in New Jersey who has had been one of the principal anti-mercury speakers at hearings the FDA held in September of 2006.
For a full text of my speech, see http://www.cent4dent.com/html/mercury_issues/fdaletter.htm
Why it took them so long to change their stance reflects how slowly things move in DC, and also the fact that it takes strong lobbyists and threats of litigation to make anything happen.
In my mind, the changes to the website were a start, but did not go far enough. I was asked by the FDA in 2008 for my opinions on their FDA mercury filling changes, and I let them know it did not go far enough. Why ban it in children under 6 when the teeth that are going to be in their mouths their entire lifetimes don't erupt into the mouth until age 6? Why ban it for pregnant women? Shouldn't the ban be for all women of child-bearing age?
The publication of Mr. Brown's letter to the editor in the December 31st Times deserves some comment as well. While, as Mr. Brown points out, there is a socio-economic stratification as to who receives mercury fillings and who receives composite resin, there is far more to the story than that. Most dentists who are still placing mercury fillings simply don't understand the science. In fact, I would posit that most dentists who still place mercury fillings have never been to a lecture (even in dental school) on the fact that mercury is the most toxic, naturally-occurring substance on the planet surface.
Dentists have been hoodwinked into believing that once placed in the mouth, the mercury fillings become inert. Nothing could be further from the truth. Curious patients should ask their dentist how they store unused filling material, or better still, ask their assistants. Mercury scrap cannot be thrown out with the trash, or flushed down the toilet. Many dentists have a cavalier attitude about it. Ask them why the ADA recommends storage of scrap in a tightly closed glass container, under a high-specific-gravity fluid like anti-freeze. Mercury scrap must be disposed of using a state-licensed hauler and refiner. Dental offices in New Jersey are now required to be equipped with mercury separators to recapture fine particulate mercury drilled out of patients' mouths before they burden sewage treatment facilities.
If you are looking for a cosmetic dentist that does dental fillings in New Jersey, make sure they educate you about your choices. Very often dentists don't even offer posterior resins as an option. The decision is often insurance-driven (isn't it time that dental insurance carriers recognize that posterior resin fillings have been around, and successful for over 20 years? They need to be mandated to pay for them, rather than for the least expensive (and toxic) alternative?) Patients' decisions are often made based on financial rather than health-related costs.
It is time for the dental patients of this state to understand that there is science that proves mercury fillings are not inert. When will dentists begin accepting science, rather than diatribe? The Vimy sheep study, performed almost 20 years ago was designed to prove that mercury fillings were, as the ADA stated, and continues to state "inert". It proved the exact opposite. The ADA's response: "That research was done on sheep, it wasn't done on humans." Talk about trying to pull the wool over people's eyes! The study was duplicated, with the same results, on primates.
Patients (and their cosmetic dentists in New Jersey) need to understand that there is a safe way to remove mercury fillings from mouths: The IAOMT protocol. Anything less exposes patients to unnecessarily high levels of mercury when fillings are drilled out.
There are some patients more prone to the effects of mercury (http://www.toxicteeth.org/MercurySymptoms.doc) than others. Until there are tests to determine who these people are, shouldn't' everyone be treated as if they were in the "more prone" group? Certainly, the reason that dentists began wearing gloves and masks for over 20 years was because we needed to treat everyone as if they were a potential AIDS carrier.
The health effects of mercury fillings in those whose genome is deficient in the APO E-2 allele can be devastating. There's a reason that there is something called "Mad Hatter's Disease". Centuries ago, people who worked the felt to shape hats used mercury to do so. These people went mad. Here's another history lesson for you:
To contact the New Jersey dentist who is against the FDA Mercury Filling regulations:
Stephen J. Markus DMD FACE
209 White Horse Pike
Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
856 Smile SJ (856.546.0665)
About The Author:
Dr. Stephen J. Markus is interested in helping people. To learn more about Dental filling dentist new jersey, new jersey dentist and Cosmetic dentist new jersey visit www.cent4dent.com
http://www.articleclick.com/
