Amalgam Removal Risks and Protocols.

[Pat Robinson]

I have 10 amalgams, I'm very cautious/concerned about the removal benefits, and risks. If I were trying to conceive within 18-24 months, I would NOT have even one mercury filling removed and absolutely not by a regular dentist. There is a big dump of stored mercury into blood circulation about 3-6 months after removal and again around a year, per my understanding.

Basically, the body "chelates" itself (into breastmilk, fetus, etc) during the first few months after mercury removal, and then your organs start to dump their mercury out and your blood levels go back up after mercury amalgam removal. Breastmilk is a natural detox pathway.

The issue is that the most mercury vapor exposure is during placement, and during removal. So, you must detox the vapor exposure by excreting the mercury, or storing the mercury. Plus, the mercury fillings leach mercury vapor every day, every meal, especially with hot liquids and chewing.

The body stores excess mercury, if we are not able to excrete it effectively. Some of us have poorer detox ability than others, this depends upon nutrient deficiencies to a large extent, also depends upon toxin exposure and genetics. So, you may have mercury stores from when the fillings were placed or from your mother's mercury load while pregnant with you. (adrenal, thyroid, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, candida, sacral dimple, tongue-tie, allergies, asthma, and mental health issues seem to be associated with poorer detox ability).

The excess mercury circulates in the body (during and after placement and removal) to be excreted (or stored in the organs, brain and gut). As the (daily) mercury exposure is lessened (after removal), old stored mercury is released into blood circulation for excretion.

Opening detox pathways with whole food nutrients is a priority, first. Otherwise the huge load of mercury exposure is more than the body can process and folks could end up with far worse health. Andy Cutler and IAOMT protocols are resources to research and study before considering amalgam removal. I have several friends who are NOT better for having their amalgams removed.

Cutler says that roughly 3-6 mos after removal, circulating metals go up, along with symptoms. Your body moves mercury around for a year or more after removal, and you don't want to be pregnant during that time. "There is nothing you can do to speed that up." ( Page 52 of Amalgam Illness)
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZG9glNfif5YC&dq=Amalgam+Illnes...


If you have optimized nutrients to excrete toxins well and have balanced microbials in the gut, I believe that the IOAMT mercury amalgam removal protocol could be done safely.

However, 40% of North Americans have impaired detoxification due to the MTHFR gene polymorphism and do not excrete toxins well. Those with effective detoxification systems probably are fine with the small daily exposures of mercury as the body naturally detoxifies all the time. If one has more than four mercury fillings or health issues, mercury removal and safe excretion of the toxins becomes much more complicated.

Wish I didn't have a mouthful of mercury. But, I expect they are going to remain. I'm focused on optimizing my detoxification system to handle the years of toxin exposure and stored toxins. I have friends who don't seem to have impaired detoxification systems remove amalgams and chelate according to the Andy Cutler protocol (around the clock!) for a couple of years and are doing well.

Everyone's situation varies, especially if one wants to try to conceive within 18 months, is pregnant or nursing.

Here are several threads discussing whether to remove or not remove amalgams:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=1173362&h...
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=1211134&h...
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=435848&hi...
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=1112417&h...

The health issues that seem to cluster among people with mercury problems:

allergies
anxiety
intermittent depression
adrenal problems slowly building all through this, may not recognize them
hypothyroidism (this is often reversible)

Other folks might have the more serious problems: fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue, MS. Cutler's book talks about various problems.

Chelating with ANY mercury fillings still present is seriously dangerous. Chelating products include those which mobilize mercury from stored locations into the blood circulation but do not bind it for safe excretion:
chlorella and coriander
DMSA
DMPS
ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid)
whey
protein powder (cysteine),
glutathione
BAL
penicillamine
EDTA

http://onibasu.com/articles/Mercury_Chelation/ALA.html


If one has nutrient deficiencies of the major detoxification nutrients (zinc, magnesium, folate, B6, B12, biotin vit C, molybdenum, selenium, sulfate etc.) then the body just redeposits the mercury into the brain, organs, gut, fetus and breastmilk.

Here is more about Natural Detoxification: http://tuberose.com/Detoxification.html
More about Liver Detoxification: http://tuberose.com/Liver_Detoxification.html
Foods to Optimize Phase I & Phase II Detoxification: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/topics/nutrient-dense-foods?comm...

Therefore, it is probably safer to conceive with the mercury fillings in place, than to conceive within 12-18 months within removal of the amalgams.

If I had known about the risk to my fetus, I would not have conceived with 10 mercury fillings present. Our son has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) behaviors. And I know I shared my mercury issues with him, as my mother did with me! We also have genetic variables (MTHFR gene polymorphism) which impairs detox of mercury though.

40% of the North American population has this MTHFR gene issue which doesn't utilize synthetic folic acid effectively for detoxification. Food folate is key. Food folate is present in beans, greens, legumes and liver.

Start at the beginning of this thread for more information.

Also,
http://curezone.com/faq/q.asp?a=3,76&q=102
http://onibasu.com/wiki/Cutler_protocol (many helpful links)
http://livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/oral_mercury_chelation/
http://www.noamalgam.com/
http://www.holisticmed.com/dental/amalgam/
http://livingnetwork.co.za/dentalnetwork/mercury-amalgam-removal/
http://www.dentalwellness4u.com/freeservices/amalremov.html

Mercury amalgam fillings should be removed only by dentists with experience using the IOAMT mercury amalgam removal protocol.
http://www.mercuryfreenow.com/freeservices/amalremov.html

http://www.iaomt.org/

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[Karin Kish]

Thanks, Pat. I'm really glad to have found your site. During these nursing/child bearing years, while I still have amalgams, what things are most important for me to avoid to reduce mercury transmission/harmful detox?

[Pat Robinson]

I avoid mercury removal, avoid peroxide in the mouth with amalgams in,  avoid starting large doses of kombucha, and avoid detox "cleanses".

Pat

[Sarah Wood]

Karin - I just wanted to try to briefly share my story.   I did have an amalgam filling removed while I was nursing two kids (a 3 yo and 9 mos) and have gotten pregnant and had another baby since then.   So far, everyone seems to be doing fine! 

I would not have chosen to have had a filling out under those circumstances if I could have avoided it, but I really didn't have a choice.  My tooth was cracked - and had been cracked for a year already by the time I got it fixed.  It was painful and I could not chew on that side of my mouth.  I put off the dental work as long as I could.   For obvious reasons, I never did any chelating or detoxing or anything like that (I still have two amalgams left in my mouth too.)  I *tried* to avoid nursing my 9 mos old for 24hrs, but could not even make it that long (maybe about 18 hrs).  We both took large doses of vit C right after the procedure to help bind up any mercury and excrete it from our systems.  I had the amalgam removed under IAOMT protocols and the actual removal probably took about 5 minutes.    I was not willing to wean, wait any longer for the repair or avoid pregnancy for many years because of this amalgam.   However, I did as much as I could under the circumstances to limit our exposure to mercury.  

To be honest, I think all the stress and anxiety leading up to making a decision of how to proceed and imagining how difficult it would be for my son not to nurse him and all that might have taken a greater toll on my system than the actual mercury exposure!   I am at peace with everything now, but it was certainly a hard road leading up to it.  

For me, my attitude is, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  In other words, if I weren't experiencing pain and problems with the amalgam filled tooth, I would have left it in, as I have done with the other two.  However, one of those other teeth is also approaching a serious crack that will warrant another repair.  :(  It's a bit of a gamble as to when the teeth might finally give way.  I now know that the typical life expectancy of an amalgam filling is about 25-30 years, which puts me smack dab in the middle of my child bearing years, where I am now. :(  As for that tooth that already has fissures, but hasn't completely cracked, I'm trying to avoid chewing on anything hard that might be the final blow, but I am going to plan to have it removed and the tooth repaired sometime in the coming year.  (My youngest is just 3 mos old right now.) I will hopefully wait until she is at least a year old, but we also hope to have more kids, so I want it to be many months prior to a potential pregnancy.  I may or may not decide to have the last amalgam removed at the same time to get it over with (it's on the other side of my mouth, unfortunately).  But I will consult with my holisitic dentist on that one...  He was really good, btw, and thankfully reassuring about the impact of the mercury exposure to me and my kids/future kids.  There are a lot of horror stories out there, but he brought it back into perspective for me.  A lot of mammas have had unknowingly had MUCH greater exposures to mercury and are ostensibly doing just fine (and their kids).   There are also plenty of cases of mammas and kids who have been seriously affected by mercury exposure due to amalgam fillings, so you have to weigh out your own situation.

 

Best wishes!

[Catherine]

Good afternoon everyone!

WOW, I had no idea the amount of time and energy (not to mention health and finances) mercury can consume, but so glad I found this site!  Would so appreciate the group’s thoughts on:

• Opinions of the Cutler protocol vs. Klinghardt/Mercola?
• Did anyone ever consider metallothionein? I visited a naturopath who suggested this for chelation with the rationale that DMSA is hard on the kidneys and liver.
• I understand that foods with thiols (high sulphur foods) are to be avoided.  What are some foods that folks have eaten instead?

 

My background:  Had six fillings and got three of them removed with a mercury-free dentist about three weeks ago.  In my early 40’s and was entertaining ideas of having a child (yes, I know I’d need to do this quickly, lol).  I innocently thought removing the fillings was it, but happened to look up detox online and the rest is history.  With the amount of time to detox, I feel like I’d be cutting it really close.

However after learning some of the mercury symptoms with mercury and realizing that I’ve already taken a few missteps without knowing it (taking ALA with fillings for a few months and adding cilantro here and there to my diet) I am weighing removal more heavily.  Perhaps I can adopt, but that’s another item.  

Healthwise, I eat a pretty healthy diet – organic foods, plenty of green leafy veggies and minimal fruits, hardly any sugar, beans, brown rice, drink lots of water, was considering becoming macrobiotic but have been having chicken again lately.  Exercise three-five times/week and vitamins include fish oil, turmeric, vit C, CoQ10, milk thistle, selenium, vit D, digestive enzymes, iron (sometimes), zinc,  and an adrenal support blend with Ashwagandah, ginseng and holy basil.

Would love to hear from the group on if the removal has been worthwhile and if it’s a bad idea to stop halfway through removal to consider conceiving.  I figure if my body has ‘learned to live’ with mercury for this long, how bad would it be to go forward with kids.  If my body has learned to adapt with six fillings, it’s still getting exposure, just half of what it got before.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any and all responses!

[Kelly B]

Hi everyone,  I finally had my two amalgams removed just a few weeks ago. http://heal-thyself.ning.com/group/natural-dental-alternatives/foru... I did a lot of prep work to get ready for it, and am doing a lot of work after to get the rest of the mercury out of my body.  (My own experience: http://bellicositykit.blogspot.com/2012/07/mercury-you-beautiful-to...)

I had a question about the detoxification process though and re-exposing myself and my family. Is there a particular pathway that is specific to the binding and removal of mercury (like, the GI tract), or are all elimination pathways involved? I am wondering specifically if I am expelling mercury vapor in my breath now and I need to avoid breathing on my family. I know, it sounds a bit silly what with the daily exposure we get to everything else, but the thought crossed my mind and I'm curious.  How about in sweat? 

One last thing I noticed, Pat, you didn't mention cilantro as a very effective chelator in your list above. Was that on purpose?

Thanks for any comments!

[Pat Robinson]

I'm out of town, on the way to Canada for two weeks. But, wanted to mention that we detox for 12-18 months after amalgam removals. There is a dump around 3 months and again about 12 months after removal. I've read that one should delay conception until 18 months after removal.

I'm not crazy about Cutler's chelation due to the chemicals used. But, definitely do not agree with Mercola and Klinghardt. And we can't actively chelate with mercury still present in the mouth.

Here is more info about the detox pathways. I don't agree with all of it either. :-) We each have to choose what we believe in and make our best path forward based upon that.

http://tuberose.com/Liver_Detoxification.html

http://www.tuberose.com/Metal_Detoxification.html

http://www.tuberose.com/Mercury.html

According to Cutler, cilantro has only one thiol bond, thus does not bind with mercury strongly to remove it from the body. He likes DMSA intead. Here are a bunch of Cutler's posts: http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/ANDY_INDEX.html

IMO, most N.D.'s are dangerously clueless about mercury chelation.


Pat

[Catherine]

In the News!  

New study says that BPA in dental fillings might affect children's behavior, but the research couldn't prove that BPA caused the subtle changes.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/07/16/plast...

IAOMT has the story on their site also.  They call the study relatively weak but raises some questions:

http://www.iaomt.org/news/archive.asp?intReleaseID=422

[Pat Robinson]

There are concerns regarding iodine supplementation in the absence of adequate selenium due to the mobilization of mercury into blood circulation. Andy Cutler, author of "Amalgam Illness" also cautions about mobilizing mercury with iodine supplementation as it doesn't bind with (chelate) the circulating mercury. The mobilized mercury is just redeposited into brain, organs and gut, rather than effectively excreted.
http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/ANDY_INDEX.html

Additionally, women with hypothyroid, especially Hashimoto's, are at increased risk of a hyperthyroid crisis when supplementing iodine.

http://chriskresser.com/iodine-for-hypothyroidism-like-gasoline-on-...
http://thyroidbook.com/blog/iodine-and-hashimotos/
http://www.westonaprice.org/metabolic-disorders/the-great-iodine-de...

Iodine-rich food sources such as sea vegetables are a natural way to consume iodine alongside co-nutrients needed. (Raw, grass-fed)cow’s milk, yogurt, mozzarella cheese, eggs and strawberries are good sources of iodine. Fish and shellfish can also be concentrated sources of iodine.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=69
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=135


Pat Robinson