Mercury Awareness Week August 17 - 23

Amalgam pollutes 1) water via dental clinic releases and human waste; 2) air via cremation, dental clinic emissions, sludge incineration and respiration; and 3) land via landfills, burials and fertilizer. Once in the environment, dental mercury converts to its even more toxic form, methylmercury, and becomes a major source of mercury contamination in seafood. When eaten, the methylmercury can cause brain damage and neurological problems, especially for children and unborn babies, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Amalgam emits mercury vapor even after it is implanted in the body. It’s bioaccumulative and can cross the placenta to accumulate in fetuses as well. It’s a known health risk, particularly for children, fetuses, nursing infants and people with impaired kidney function.

Even the U.S. FDA acknowledges that the developing neurological systems of children and fetuses are more susceptible to "the neurotoxic effects of mercury vapor," and that there is no evidence that amalgam is safe for these populations.

Due to mercury exposure from amalgam in the workplace, studies have shown that dental workers have elevated systemic mercury levels.

Few of those dental workers — mostly women of childbearing age — are given protective garb or air masks to minimize their mercury exposure, and many are unaware of the occupational risks. As a result, dental workers have reported neurological problems, reproductive failures and birth defects caused by amalgam exposure.

Most dentists do not inform patients that amalgam contains mercury. As a result, over 76% of patients do not know that amalgam is mainly mercury, according to Zogby polls. But once they are informed, 77% do not want mercury fillings and are even willing to pay more to avoid this unnecessary source of mercury exposure.

While middle-class consumers can opt for mercury-free dental fillings, people in developing nations, low-income families, minorities, military personnel, prisoners and people with disabilities are still subjected to amalgam.

Racial minorities are also more likely to receive amalgam. For example, dentists place almost 25% more mercury fillings in American-Indian patients than in white patients. In his testimony before Congress, former Virginia state NAACP president Emmitt Carlton described this injustice as "choice for the rich, mercury for the poor."