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« Back to Opinion & Analysis
Nothing to Smile About
Editorial for the Houston Community Newspaper, Inc.
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
January 31, 2008
Because mercury is a poison, the FDA is concerned about mercury in the fish we eat. If it is dangerous to your health to eat fish with mercury, then shouldn’t the FDA be as concerned about mercury fillings in your teeth? The FDA is playing a shell game by causing you to worry about one problem, when it knows the real problem is the mercury in your mouth.
The expression “mad as a hatter” was coined to describe the crazy behavior that people who made hats, lined with mercury, displayed from mercury poisoning: irritability, depression, anxiety, memory loss and fatigue. The hatters also developed hand tremors, loss of coordination and slurred speech.
When mercury teeth fillings were introduced in the mid 1800s, the Society of Dental Surgeons (SDS) denounced their use because of their concern about mercury poisoning that had occurred among hat makers.
The American Dental Association (ADA) was formed and advocated for the use of mercury fillings. It proclaimed that mercury fillings were safe and cheaper than gold fillings. They argued that by using mercury based fillings dentists could provide a more affordable service and expand their practices. The SDS lost the battle and to this day, the ADA defends the use of mercury amalgam. Over 70 million Americans have mercury fillings in their teeth.
The ADA claims that mercury stays in the fillings and poses no harm. But scientific studies have documented that mercury leaches out of the fillings and is absorbed into the body where it can produce toxic symptoms, most of which are undiagnosed and often attributed to hypochondriasis. Each filling contains an average of ˝ gram of mercury. It only takes ˝ gram of mercury to contaminate a 10 acre lake, which would cause the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare the lake an environmental hazard. The fish in the lake would contain too much mercury, acquired from that one tooth filling disposed in that lake, for you to safely eat.
Dentists are required to discard the mercury used in their offices in special containers for transfer to environmental waste locations. If mercury is so dangerous that dentists have to take these precautions, then why does the FDA allow mercury to be used for fillings in your teeth? Why have the ADA and various state boards of dentistry disciplined dentists who have spoken out against the use of mercury fillings?
There are scores of non toxic materials available which can be used instead. Why is there unwillingness on the part of the FDA and ADA to promote their use?
By advocating change, the ADA might be viewed as having misled the public. This could lead to massive class action product liability lawsuits by those who have been damaged by exposure to mercury. The ADA, insurance companies and the FDA dread this possibility.
So the FDA creates a diversion with its warnings about mercury in the fish so that you won’t worry about the mercury in your teeth.
It’s nothing to smile about.
About Conservative Republicans of Texas
Steven F. Hotze, M.D. is president of Conservative Republicans of Texas and founder of Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas.
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