Remember that removing fillings not only costs money, time, and discomfort but redoing them also means losing more natural tooth and exposing yourself to more chemicals, from the new fillings and the drugs used to add them. I would say stick with the ones you've got and add no more until the ADA recommends that dentists stop using them, which could happen soon. In the mean time, check your serum mercury levels.

Yes, had mine removed. I realize there are "conflicting claims" about the potential dangers of mercury fillings, but: If issues of toxicity are part of your dietary and lifestyle calculus -- if they show up on your radar screen of reasonable concerns -- then I simply do not see how one can be apprised of the horrific poisoning effects of mercury, and sleep well knowing it's in your mouth.

Would any pro-mercury-fillings folks be willing to account for why dentists take extraordinary steps to protect against mercury poisoning when they remove mercury fillings at the request of patients?

I've got one tooth that has them and have decided that it's less risky to have the chronic exposure of mercury vapor inhalation/swallowing than it would be to risk an acute poisoning if the dentists Fs up the procedure. I'm not sure what I'd do if I had that many. I do consciously make an effort to chew less on that side though. I've seen papers where gum chewers with amalgam fillings have waaaay more mercury exposure, so don't do that.

I had all of mine replaced with composite, doing one quadrant at a time. A Hair Analysis test might find only slightly elevated levels of mercury. However, it can also test for all of the heavy metals (lead, cadmium, etc). I discovered 10 years ago that I had toxic amounts of aluminum. I realized that I was eating from my favorite Mandan Village replica terra cotta bowl whose black patina was slowly being consumed which each meal. So good-bye bowl. My naturopathic doctor prescribed malic acid pills to bind and take out the aluminum. Now my levels are below toxic range. Back then, during my amalgram days, the mercury seemed a tad elevated, but not way above range, so maybe the hair analysis method is not so good for testing mercury. Take chlorella and cilantro to help bind with mercury so the liver can send them towards excretion. There are good chutneys made with cilantro. I hope in time you will be able to change your fillings from amalgram to composite, even if its one tooth per year. Your dentist might figure out which amalgrams are the best candidates to take out first. To your Health and ours.

I am on my fourteenth round of Andy Cutler's mercury chelation protocol. My tentative take on its value (I'm planning on doing this for atleast 100 round!) is that for me, it's equal to the whole value of the Paleo lifestyle. I imagine the percentage will grow as the months pass. I love being on the Alpha lipoic acid every two to three hours. Good for weight lifting, sex, mood, even sleep.Fun dreams right before the ALA half life "effect" wakes me up at night like clock work. Cutler has it nailed people. He is the Kurt Harris of Mercury Chelation, and he is a honey bagger, as well. I feel my 100% Paleo approach has taking much of the side effects out of Culter's protocal. Cutler claims a lot of foods groups interact with the ALA and DMSA(Mostly certain veggies.) Grass fed beef/sheep/fat doesn't screw up the process. There is a certain stress to the chelation,but the Paleo diet really helps.And it should. Isn't that what all the hype is about!!!! The fucking diet actually works when you need it most.!!!!! Luckily my dentist did a good job.I felt nothing good or bad from the removal. The chelation phase is where the Magic happened.I recommend PROPER amalgam removal and PROPER low dose oral ALA chelation.( N+1 )has lead me to side with all the Anti-amalgam hysteria "crazies." The mercury vapor made me sick/crazy, and I know it, because I'm far less sick/crazy after only 14 weeks. QED

I'm a dental hygienist and as I understand this, when amalgams are removed mercury aerosol is produced. In addition, many of the composite fillings used contain BPA. The best approach to dentistry is a preventative one. Brush, floss, and regular cleanings. IF you need restorative work, you can get gold onlays instead of fillings. Just find a dentist that's really experienced in this.
Another option is to find a holistic dentist that is CERTAIN that her composite filling material will not produce BPA.

I have just replaced them as they have failed.

Sounds like we're in the same boat, Shrimp - a mouthful of old amalgams and oh-so-fun thyroid problems. After years of mildly annoying sluggish thyroid symptoms, I started getting sick close to a year ago - chronic fatigue, cold extremities, weight gain, thinning eyebrows etc. etc. Thyroid medicine (both T4 and T3) have not helped. Although I was never tested for mercury toxicity, (in retrospect, I probably should have been, but my doctor kept insisting there was nothing wrong with me) I am now convinced that years of mercury exposure are a major player in my health issues. I had all of my fillings removed in November 2011. It was not cheap, since my insurance only pays for one filling every two years, and only for amalgams, (facepalm) but it was less than I expected - about $600 all said and done. It was money well spent. For the first time in almost a year, my energy is improving and I'm starting to feel more like myself again. Of course having my mercury removed may not explain everything, but I do believe it helped.

If you decide to have your amalgams removed, please make sure whoever does it uses rubber dams and constant suction during the removal, since, as Evelyn wisely points out, it can make you even sicker if done carelessly. Look for a "biological" or holistic dentist who specializes in safe mercury removal. Take lots of vitamin C. Consider taking chlorella and cilantro extract to chelate the excess mercury after the removal.

It's also worth mentioning that I've begun taking a topical glutathione supplement because I've read that there's a strong correlation between low levels of glutathione (the body's primary antioxidant) and Hypothyroid/Hashimoto's. Amalgam fillings can be the culprit behind the glutathione depletion in the first place, and I'm almost certainly low. There is a solid link between mercury toxicity and thyroid malfunction, and glutathione depletion may explain that connection.

Good luck!

Good luck Shrimp! No easy task to make the right choices on your path to health. I look back at college days and recall ALL the things that affected my health negatively -- college stress, family stress, college dining refined and/or processed foods (Big Agra cereal, pasta, bread ALL DAY, pesticide-salad greens and vegs probably covered with antifungals and bromides which adversely affect endocrine glands, soda, mochas with HFCS, etc) -- BLAAARGH!

You probably had more vaccinations (mercury) for HepB, menigitis, swine flu and annual influenza... WHAT A TOXIC BURDEN TO BEAR in addition to said new amalgams.

We could single out 'metals' but it's not the only toxic burden unfortunately.

• http://www.integrativerd.org/docs/preFNCE%202009%20All%20Powerpoint%20Presentations[1].pdf

It sounds like your endgame goal is: health, recovery of thyroid/adrenals/gonads, and eventually ROCKSTAR fertility and non-autistic, healthy children. No?

Yeah, IMHO I'd concur that you don't want hypometabolism (a form of cr*p hibernation), excessively low body temps or sluggish functioning. Under these circumstances, the kids produced (if even fertility) studies show have lower IQ when TSH is > 2.0 (although likely savant and ASD/ADD spectrum). Thyroid demands are HUGE during pregnancy as this is one of the prime hormonal regulators of transformation, development and neurologic and physiologic growth... (take away thyroid from developing tadpoles and they don't morph).

You will get there. Many of us are or have. Dave Asprey lost 100 lbs, cured the adrenals/thyroid, reversed his Asperger's and is 'done'. ha ahaa! See page 9 of the Roger Lawson interview where he tells me how... (chelation, addressing overgrowth issues (candida), adrenals -- well that was dinner -- 10 g salt daily, sometimes glandulars, biofeedback with high tech which is like meditation, paleo diet, blah blah)

http://www.bulletproofexec.com/podcast-transcript-12-sexification-with-roger-lawson/9/

Normally, this is one topic where I'd say don't worry about it. Usually people get all scared about mercury and it doesn't matter because the mercury is already bound to something else. But since I didn't know anything about this topic, I did a quick visit to wikipedia just to find out what the amalgum is:

In dentistry, amalgam is an alloy of mercury with various metals used for dental fillings. It commonly consists of mercury (50%), silver (~22-32% ), tin (~14%), copper (~8%), and other trace metals.

So that actually scares me. There's no chemistry here - i.e., no bonds. We have mercury, solver, tin, and copper as an alloy (that is just the molecules stacked together, no chemical bonds holding them together). So there is definitely some release of mercury (and silver, tin, and copper) into your mouth from the filling.

I can't say how much and if it's actually would be worse to remove it and expose yourself to the removal process (analogous to removing asbestos. It's often better just to leave it there than it is to disrupt it and get it back into the air while removing it). But I can say that whatever mercury is released is elemental mercury which is worse than bound mercury.

I've had some fillings replaced, but only because they failed over the years. Amalgam fillings are not for life. And what I found on my large ones is that they get undermined over time. So there's decay under them that will need to get drilled out at some point.

Get tested for the possible toxicity first. Especially if we're talking about a "mouthful".

The removal of the fillings can be acutely toxic in and of itself if the dentist does not employ a lot of measures to minimize this.

So ... if it's an issue, then have it done. If it's not then replace as needed. The resin fillings have problems of their own. I have sensitivity in the two teeth I had my only amalgams (30 year old fillings at that!) replaced with resin fillings. Not bad, but I "feel" those teeth now for the past couple years.

I've had my fillings replaced with gold as they failed. Insurance pays for amalgam, but I just pay the difference in cost and much of the cost is for labour. I also look at gold prices when timing replacements. Gold lasts forever, amalgam & composite do not, so in the long run I hope to save money.

Originally I had a couple removed because they were squishing sideways and splitting my teeth ("a CAP... you mean I need a ROOT CANAL??") which points out how bad the original dentist was.

Then I had a couple replaced due to the amalgam scare - and noticed something - I was no longer tasting metal in my mouth as much.

I LIKE it when what I'm eating doesn't taste like an aluminum frying pan. SO I did it over a period of a couple of years, but YES, all are now replaced.

:)

My thyroid problems started in high school eventually warrenting the removal of my thyroid. A few years later i started getting massive debilitating migranes. I never thought about the 14 silver fillings in my mouth. 4 years ago i started working for a company with great dental insurance and it was suggested to get every one replaced. I did. Not a headache since.

I had a heap of problems after oral galvanism of these fillings and i also had thyroid problems and chronic sinus . The answer to all your concerns lies in one question (am i healthy). If you are really fit and healthy and you have amalgam fillings in your mouth then the filling obviously havent degraded and they are not effecting your health. If you are sick you should see a holistic dentist get him or her to check the fillings to see if they are degraded. If they are producing electricity like mine were then they will offgas mercury at a greater rate. They could also have degraded from other reasons , the holistic dentist can measure how much mercury is coming of the fillings using a gerome meter and also get hair samples taken to see if you have heavy metals in your system. If you have elevated mercury levels and degraded fillings then this is of great concern and you should have the fillings removed by an expert who uses a rubber dam and takes the seriousness of the situation serioulsly !!!! I hope this clears up some of your confusion these fillings are extremely toxic but they need to be degraded for this to be the case . iM really glad i dont have them in my mouth anymore

Well, the mercury is killing people...and...so@? What are you saying on this or are you with the people killing everbody else???????

My dentist told me to redo 2 of my 5 amalgam fillings, so I researched the issue. In the end, I went to a holistic dentist and replaced them all. From my research, I concluded the following.

Most important: If you do remove fillings, do it with a holistic dentist or one that understands how to do it, otherwise the removal process will dump way more mercury into your body then just having them sit in your mouth This means using a dental dam and oxygen so as not to inhale the particles.

This isn't scientific but I have read enough case histories of people who had serious medical issues that went away after removal to conclude that for some people it makes a huge difference. But I also think that it won't make a big difference for most.

For me, I did it during the period in which I switched to a paleo/WAP diet and I can't separate out which of the many improvements I experienced were from the dietary change and which were from the amalgam removal. There was no instant and huge effect.

My gut tells me that the protocals of taking chelating substances for months and years after amalgam removal aren't warrented, and are even dangerous. People feel bad for long times and it's all said the be herx reactions. hmmmm.... I took chlorella and spirulina for a while after the removal. At least I was confident they wouldn't do damage.

It is also worth noting that Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have banned the use of amalgams.

Good luck!

Does swapping out amalgam fillings with mercury-free substitutes really help? I think there is a lot of anecdotal info on the internet that suggests the answer is "definite, maybe". ;-) If you are looking to overcome health issues I would not look at amalgam removal as the first line of treatment. However if after diet/supplements you are faced with amalgam removal or taking some serious prescription drug intervention I consider going with the amalgam removal ... to the best what one can afford. Although many have reported zero improvement after the procedure I don't recall anyone regretting the action.

Thankfully Paleo has worked wonders in resolving my big three nightmares: psoriasis, IBS and GERD. Yet my hypothyroidism, diagnosed just last June, persists. I might get tested for mercury toxicity (..I think one sends a hair clipping to a lab) should my condition not improve in the coming months. I have one ancient (1960s) small filling that is certainly replaceable. However my other filling, circa 2001, is so large that it would need to be replaced with a crown (..yuck).

_Lazza

It is dangerous to remove amalgam fillings even using a qualified dentist. Take it from me dont take the chance of causing yourself harm if its not necessary. I cant give you all the details here but analgam removal is not worth the risk. Trust me i was seriously harned by si called " safe" amalgam removal.