photo by alumroot
Earlier this year, I posted about the dangers of silver amalgams (which are almost 50% mercury). For years, activists have fought to have the dangers acknowledged, while the American Dental Association told people there was nothing to worry about.
It seems the Food & Drug Administration decided there’s enough evidence to warrant some concern about continued use of mercury in dental fillings.
Earlier this month, in an unprecedented U-turn, the FDA dropped much of its reassuring language on the fillings from its website, substituting: “Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and foetuses.” It adds that when amalgam fillings are “placed in teeth or removed they release mercury vapour”, and that the same thing happens when chewing.
The FDA is now reviewing its rules and may end up restricting or banning the use of the metal.
I imagine the American Dental Association is not going to be very happy about this out come. It’s been doing its best to keep a number of mercury studies under wraps for a number of years.
Of course, I read about the US development in a British newspaper, which is another tale for another time.
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