Q: I have heard that tooth fillings that contain mercury are bad for your health. Should I have them removed? Does the mercury cause brain damage or Alzheimer’s disease? I am 65 years old and my memory does not seem to be as good as it used to be. I have a mouth full of old metal fillings.
A: The dentists that I have talked to have always reassured me that mercury amalgam fillings do not pose any health hazard, but researchers at the University of Calgary think otherwise. Dr. Fritz Lorscheider, Dr. Naweed Syed and medical student Christopher Leung have published a paper in the British journal Neuroreport (January 2001) showing the process whereby mercury damages brain cells. They showed that mercury causes the scaffolding-like protective tubes of developing neurons to break down. Without this protective barrier, the neurons stop functioning normally.
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The researchers did not find that other metals such as aluminum, lead, cadmium or manganese caused the same degeneration. Dr. Lorscheider said, “This study explains why mercury is a neurotoxin, but that doesn’t mean that the other metals aren’t, but if they are, it’s not by this mechanism. For example, everyone knows lead is a neurotoxin, but it causes damage through a different process.”
The mercury levels tested by the Calgary researchers were comparable to the amounts that humans are exposed to from dental amalgam fillings. They also found that after they were damaged, the nerve cells clumped together to form a picture similar to that seen in Alzheimer’s disease. Other researchers have suggested links with amalgam fillings to such illnesses as multiple sclerosis or autoimmune disorders.
In view of this, I would suggest that you might want to gradually replace any metal fillings with the white paste type, as they need repair.
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