20+ QUESTIONS ON DENTAL AMALGAM AND MERCURY HEALTH RISKS: DID YOU KNOW?

These questions are posted as a guide to increase consumer, patient and parent awareness about a toxic substance - mercury - that is mixed with amalgam and installed in our teeth without any labels, warnings, or the basic human and medical right of informed written consent in the United States.

20+ QUESTIONS ON DENTAL AMALGAM AND MERCURY HEALTH RISKS: DID YOU KNOW?

THE AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION (ADA)

1.  The ADA was founded in 1859 (155 years ago) as a pro-amalgam trade association?

2.  A 1990 60 Minutes special, Is There Poison in Your Mouth? the highest-watched 60 Minutes show at the time, was pulled and never again shown or referred to on network TV? 

3.  The ADA put a gag order clause in its Code of Ethics saying that dentists who promote removal of amalgam for health reasons will be expelled, and expelled dentists until the courts put a stop to it? 

4.  Center for Responsive Politics calls ADA a ‘heavy hitter’ for campaign contributions, legal expenses?

5.  The ADA is also a commercial organization, with 83 patents in 38 years, while the AMA has none? 

DENTISTS AND DENTAL PLANS

6.  There are serious health warnings on mercury amalgam that dentists receive from manufacturers?

7.  About half of dentists don’t use amalgam any more, out of concerns for safety or environment?

8.  Dentists who want to teach at US dental schools keep quiet any concerns or reservations about the health impacts of amalgam?

9.  Dental plans are not cost neutral, the vast majority only pay the amount it would cost to put more amalgam back in the back of your mouth, and deny appeals despite medical proof of toxicity?

10. Removal of amalgam by regular dentists without special techniques and equipment beyond a dental dam increases exposure to mercury vapor, while biologic dentists use special training and equipment?

DIAGNOSTIC TESTS AND REPORTING

11. Blood, urine and hair tests for mercury levels are not that reliable with false negatives, as how your metabolism processes mercury determines if it shows up in tests, or stays in body, cells and brain?

12. More reliable tests for mercury damage may include urinary porphyrin levels, and glutathione levels?

13. A biocompatibility blood test can determine, among the vast quantity of dental metals and materials, which are most reactive, somewhat reactive and least reactive to your individual immune system?

14. Simple genetic tests can find at-risk gene types impacting methylation and detoxification pathways?

15. Reporting amalgam reactions is not mandatory, nor billable, and is confusing, so rarely happens?

16. The FDA considers sensitivity or reactivity reactions rare, because they are rarely reported?

17. You can and should report adverse events to the FDA, and report unsafe medical devices?

18. You can and should also report adverse events to the State Dental Board, and Poison Control Hotline?

THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA)

19. Mercury amalgam is considered a medical device, a prosthetic device, not a substance, by the FDA?

20. The FDA long grandfathered it “generally recognized at safe,” never rigorously tested or proven safe?

21. As a result of a lawsuit, the FDA only ruled it Class II, with a guidance document for manufacturers to dentists in 2009 stating that mixed metals should not be used in the same or abutting teeth, because it creates galvanic micro-electrical currents that can degrade mercury in amalgam?

22. The FDA Commissioner recused herself because she sat on the board of an amalgam distributor for six years before taking this position?

23. The FDA ignored recommendations of its own Scientific Advisory Panels in 2010 to restrict its use and post warnings for use in children, pregnant women and people with a known allergy to mercury?

24. Thomas Duplinsky of Yale SOM published a 2012 study finding dentists have higher prescription usage for neurological, psychiatric, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases than matched controls?

GENES AND IMMUNE SYSTEM

25. People with ApoE4, CPOX4, or with a number of other common genetic mutations (SNPs) affecting methylation and detoxification do not clear mercury well, so have higher rates of toxicity?

26. People with these gene types have higher rates of Alzheimers, autoimmune and movement disorders?

27. Genetic screening diagnostic tests for the above, and for immune pathways are covered by insurance?

28. Mercury can cause allergies and skin reactions to yeasts, sugars, wheat, gluten, corn and soy?

29. Monkeys and sheep with amalgam placed in their teeth immediately start redistributing it throughout their bodies and brains? And get very ill pretty quickly when amalgam is put in their teeth?

HEALTH AND HEALTH IMPACTS

30. Mothers pass mercury on to our children via the placenta and breast milk?

31. There are changes in children’s urinary porphyrins evident soon after amalgam is installed?

32. Loss of teeth does not protect one from mercury poisoning, as the body and brain burden persists if one does not clear mercury well, or follow an effective, medically supervised detox protocol?

33. Populations with high amalgam exposures include midlifers, boomers and older adults, Native Americans, the Military, Medicaid patients, and all who don’t know or can’t afford alternatives?

34. Crematoria are exempt from adequate pollution controls, and have no provisions to remove mercury amalgam dental fillings prior to cremation? 

35. Health disparities and chronic health problems have proven correlations with amalgam exposure, but this is not considered sufficient proof to act to ban or restrict its use?

36. James S Woods, an author of the Children’s Amalgam Trial in Portugal, reanalyzed data by gender and gene type, publishing new studies that amalgam led to kidney and behavioral problems in some boys?

OTHER NATIONS

37. Amalgam was banned in Norway and Denmark in 2008, Sweden 2009, and other nations restrict it?

38. The third largest Israeli dental plan will not pay for amalgams in children?

39. Parker Hannifin, a major engineering company that self-insures, pays for amalgam removal to protect the health of its employees, and only pays for fillings using safer, biocompatible alternatives?

40. The World Health Organization has called for its end in dentistry, and under a new International Treaty signed in 2013, many nations are working to phase out its use in dentistry worldwide?

41. The EEC is laying the groundwork to follow the Scandinavian countries and stop using it?

WHAT STATES CAN DO (AND CANNOT DO)

42. Courts have ruled that states cannot ban amalgam because of the Interstate Commerce Clause, as long as the FDA maintains in is safe, despite the recommendations of the FDA Scientific Advisory Panel?

43. That there are no informed consents required or health warnings shared with patients, except in the four informed consent states of Maine, California, Connecticut and Vermont, and Philadelphia, PA?

44. Consumers do not get a label or the most basic right of informed written consent for use of amalgam?

45. The FDA was sued by the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology et al in March 2014 for violating the federal APA law by not responding to petitions for reconsideration for years?

46. What can we do?  What ideas do you have?  What can you do?  What can we all do together?

 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. 

PRESS RELEASE: FOR GOOD HEALTH, INTEGRATED CARE AND MAKING CHRONIC DISEASES HISTORY

For release: May 22, 2014                

         

Contact: Laura Henze Russell, Principal, Hidden River Health Challenge, 339-364-0701 laurarussell2@comcast.net

Elizabeth Brody, Chief of Staff, Sen James Timilty, 617-722-1222, elizabeth.brody@masenate.gov

                                 

Sen. Timilty Working for EHS 692: For Good Health, Analyze Dental and Health Records

Sen. James Timilty (D-Walpole) filed Senate Budget Amendment EHS 692 to ask the MA Center for Health Information and Analysis to include dental insurance records in their health insurance database analyses, which are used by the MA Health Policy Commission to look at trends in chronic diseases and health care costs. Biocompatibility problems with dental materials, and dental infections are major drivers of inflammation, the common cause of many chronic diseases.

Rep. Louis Kafka and Sen. Brian A. Joyce each filed a bill related to dental amalgam in 2013. They were sent to study by the Public Health Committee, but its co-chairs welcomed a related budget amendment. Three other New England states and CA provide some consumer information, and the FDA says state consumer labeling does not violate preemption. The label could include a bar code and a QR code so people can look up more product information on their cell phones. The bills will be refiled next year.

Many legislators thought dentists stopped using amalgam years ago, and are surprised it is still in use. Everyone has an interest in keeping people healthy. Dental plans should be cost neutral and subject to patient protection laws and medical necessity. MassHealth should cover alternatives to amalgam, as Pennsylvania has for years. Paying a little more upfront for biocompatible filling materials can forestall years of higher health care costs for genetically susceptible children and adults. There are a half dozen common gene types that do not clear mercury well, raising the risk of immune and neurological damage. There are numerous studies on higher rates of chronic diseases with amalgam, and occupational risks.

Hidden River Health Challenge is also releasing a new Issue Brief today to make the case for action, subtitled, How We Can Get Better & Lower Health Care Costs by Blending Old & New Knowledge, Ending Conflicts & Rebooting the Health Sector. “It is time to catch up with the rest of the world, put patients instead of industry protectionism first, and end ‘conflict regulation’ and ‘conflict dentistry’ in the United States, says Laura Henze Russell, founder of Hidden River Health Challenge. 

Russell recovered from two decades of fibromyalgia and a year of escalating medical misery which turned out to be due to a genetic glitch in clearing mercury, which off-gases from dental amalgam. She delved into the subject in order to recover her health, and help protect others from her fate. “It is astounding to me that we get no labels, and have no right of written informed consent, for installation of a dangerous neurotoxin that is considered a medical device by the FDA,” says Russell.

Unlike the AMA which holds no patents so has no commercial and trade interests, the ADA was assigned 83 patents in the 38 years - 1976 to the present - in which the US patent office records are fully digitized, including two related to dental amalgam that expired in the mid-1990s. Patents granted to all sources on dental amalgam since 2002 are all related to mitigating its harm to the environment.

Russell sent in-depth letters with information on new peer reviewed journal articles on clinical trials showing harm from dental amalgam to boys with certain gene types to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, EOHHS, Division of Insurance, Attorney General, and the Sharon Board of Health. The Issue Brief is being shared with  the MA Legislature, Health Policy Commission, and stakeholders. The findings of amalgam safety from the Children’s Amalgam Trials have been retracted. The American Public Health Association declined in 2013 to ratify its interim policy that amalgam is safe and effective. Nigeria is the latest nation to end the use of dental mercury, announced May 21, 2014.

The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) filed a lawsuit against the FDA March 5^th for failing to respond to a petition to reconsider the flawed 2009 Class II dental amalgam ruling based on numerous errors in the FDA’s risk assessment after 54 months. The Administrative Procedures Act requires a response within one year.  IAOMT is one of three dental associations opposed to the continued use of dental amalgam. It supports science and trains dentists on safe removal techniques when indicated and special equipment needed beyond a dental dam to minimize patient and staff exposure to mercury vapor.

Mercury vapor from dental amalgam, mercury from fatty fish such as tuna and swordfish, from skin lightening creams, and from old medications such as mercurochrome and merthiolate are different forms of a potent neurotoxin and human exposure from all sources should be minimized.

It took Congress 14 years to pass President John F. Kennedy’s bill to add medical devices to the FDA. Unfortunately, Congress never instructed the FDA to require medical devices contain the kinds of patient labels, composition information, health risks, side effects, and a number to call to report adverse events that patients get for every prescription drug, and for chemicals. We get labels on our Cheerios, and labels and health warnings on toothpaste not to swallow it, but nothing on medical devices permanently installed in our teeth. It took the FDA 33 years to classify dental amalgam, and the risk classification is flawed, outdated, and out of step with much of Europe and Canada, which have warnings and consent. Four Scandinavian countries and Japan have banned its use.

There is a growing movement for funding, running and analyzing clinical trials data by gender, led by Dr. Paula Johnson of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and other speakers at the Women’s Health Summit in Boston in March. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who sat on Henry Schein’s board for six years, disagreed, saying it would be too expensive to reanalyze old studies, and we need to move forward. Biotech and medical researchers confirm the need to add gene type and gender.

Russell is a social innovation entrepreneur, economist and ethicist concerned with health and family wellbeing, an injured patient, a mother, wife and daughter with a family tree with its share of chronic diseases. After two decades of fibromyalgia, and a year of medical hell, Laura regained her health and ability to work. She faces large dental costs and lost her appeals to a “great” dental plan due to the FDA ruling that amalgam is still Class II, standard of care for everyone. A former ocean lifeguard, she renewed American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Lifeguard, and Lifeguard Trainer certifications.

Russell founded Hidden River Health Challenge: A Social Innovation Enterprise to help people learn about the impact of genes and toxins, importance of our own health information, share and take action. Hidden River is reaching out to people, stakeholders, and candidates running for office to build support for good health, integrated whole body care, and helping make chronic diseases history.

 #    #    #

Deborah Sampson vs. Goliath: Will Sharon Make History as First Town to Call for Surgeon General Report on Mercury Health Risks?

Article 24 is expected to come up on the second night, Tuesday May 6th, at Town Meeting at the Sharon High School Auditorium. Non-residents must request permission in advance to attend Town Meeting.

Watch Russell's Presentation to Sharon Finance Committee on Article 24: Why We Need a Surgeon General Report  

Sharon resident Laura Henze Russell filed Article 24 to raise awareness, and begin to change official government policy on dental amalgam, which is still in unrestricted use in the United States. Four Scandinavian nations and Japan ban amalgam. Canada and much of Europe have warnings and consent.

Russell is acting in the spirit of Deborah Sampson, a patriot who fought against all odds for her beliefs and for the rights of others. She is acting in the tradition of promoting an environment free of toxins for health and wellness, and lessening the burden and impact of chronic diseases. She is acting as a witness to her personal experience of illness and recovery, that of others she has met with similar experiences, and her belief, faith and knowledge from two years of in-depth research.

Russell was an ocean lifeguard in her youth. In her late 30s Russell developed fibromyalgia that restricted her physical activities. In her 40s she was treated for breast cancer and developed osteopenia that contributed to fractures of her foot, wrist and elbow. In her late 50s she developed escalating problems that specialists at leading Boston hospitals were unable to diagnose, and had to stop working.

Finally diagnosed and treated for mercury toxicity, she learned she has some common genetic glitches that increase susceptibility to heavy metals and toxins, and impact immunity. Large amalgams were drilled out with only a dental dam (inadequate protect from inhaled vapor) after she stopped breastfeeding, right before she developed fibromyalgia. Russell has experienced a remarkable recovery, and resolved to help others avoid her fate.  

James S Woods et al have published three peer reviewed studies retracting their prior findings of amalgam safety in the Children’s Amalgam Trial, finding neurobehavioral deficits in boys with certain gene types. Many studies show associations between amalgam and chronic diseases. Three dental associations – International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, International Association of Biologic Dentistry and Medicine, and Holistic Dental - are opposed to its use as mercury vapor off-gasses with heath and abrasion, harming genetically susceptible patients, dentists and staff.  They provide training in safer removal.

The FDA has a logjam on amalgam. We do not get labels, we do not get information, we do not have the basic human and medical right of informed written consent for a medical device that has a potent neurotoxin. Unlike the AMA, the ADA is also a commercial and trade association, with 83 patents in the 38 years in which the US Patent Office has fully digitized records. The ADA’s last patents on dental amalgam were filed in the mid 1970s and expired in the mid 1990s. 

During the last 12 years, the only new patents granted on dental amalgam are to help mitigate its impacts on the environment, through better wastewater separators, and for encapsulation in corpses prior to cremation to minimize release of toxic mercury vapor from crematoria, which are exempt from strict pollution controls.

Russell has provided extensive information the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Executive Office of Human Services, and the Division of Insurance which regulates dental insurance, but they can take no action as long as the FDA says it is safe. The IAOMT sued FDA March 5th for failing to respond to a petition to reconsider its Class II ruling with numerous errors in its risk assessment. States are permitted to require labels and give information for patients, as in CA, CT, ME and NH.

Rep. Kafka and Sen. Joyce filed bills on amalgam; they were sent to study. Russell shared extensive information with Rep. Kennedy, Sen. Warren and Sen. Markey. Rep. Kennedy and Sen. Markey are not on the right committees to lead. Sen. Warren's staff said they will need to see a large coalition before taking action. This is a step to raise awareness and help build momentum.

Russell founded Hidden River Health Challenge: A Social Innovation Enterprise, to help people learn about genes and toxins, and the importance of our own health information, share what we learn, and take action to help ourselves and others. Hidden River is forming a Coalition for Good Health, co-sponsored by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology.  For information, contact Laura Henze Russell, laurarussell2@comcast.net.  

Filed by Laura Henze Russell, here is Article 24: "To see if the Town will request that the Sharon Board of Selectmen write to President Obama asking him to instruct the Surgeon General of the United States to prepare a report on Dental Amalgam and Health Risks; or take any other action relative thereto." 

The Board of Selectmen voted 2-0-0 against approval. THE FINANCE COMMITTEE VOTED 8-0-1 AGAINST APPROVAL."

The Aha! Moment: Why Houston (Boston, Washington, Congress) We Have a Huge Problem...

Medical and Dental Associations: Professional, Commercial and Trade, or Both?

 Ethical and Legal Questions

1. Is it appropriate for professional medical and dental associations to hold patents on products?

2. Should the licensing, teaching and practice of medicine and dentistry be separate from their trade and commercial interests?

3. What is the appropriate regulatory stance? What happens when conflicts of interest arise?

AMA

The American Medical Association (AMA) is concerned with the licensing, teaching, and practice of medicine. It does not hold patents on specific products.

ADA

The American Dental Association (ADA) is concerned with the licensing, teaching and practice of dentistry, and also with the trade and commercial aspects of dentistry. It was founded in 1859 to promote the use of an inexpensive restorative material at the time, dental amalgam, first introduced in the United States in the early 1830s. There have been improvements in its formulation over the years.

The ADA has been assigned 83 patents during the period of online records at the US Patent Office, 1976 to the present. Patents from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by Issue Date, Patent Number, and Current US Classification.

The ADA’s most recent patent on dental amalgam, “Method for eliminating gamma.sub.2 phase from dental amalgam and improved dental amalgam composition” was granted in 1977, amended in 1978, and expired in the mid-1990s.  The ADA’s latest patent, granted February 25, 2014, is, “A method and apparatus for measuring the polishability of a solid material such as a dental restorative material.”

Trends in Patents on Dental Amalgam

There have been 42 patents filed with dental amalgam in the title during the period of online records at the US Patent Office, 1976 to the present. Patents from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by Issue Date, Patent Number, and Current US Classification. Recent patents note a record of an early one filed, “Improvement in Dental Amalgams,” in 1874 by Stephen Southworth of Niagara Falls, NY.

In addition to the ADA 1977 and 1978 patents noted above, there have been additional ones granted. Of note, Japanese researchers were granted a patent in 1987, “Dental amalgam alloys containing selenium,” to counteract, “the cytotoxicity resulting from mercury eluting from the amalgam filler.”

Since 2003, the only patents that have been granted have been related to the mitigation of harm from dental amalgam to water, air, crops, fish, etc.: “Dental amalgam separator,” “Low-cost magnetically aided apparatus for separating dental amalgam from waste water,” and “System and method for reducing environmental crematorial release of mercury from mercury-containing dental amalgam, in which teeth are encapsulated to reduce mercury vapor as crematoria have weak emissions controls.

 This work by Laura Henze Russell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.