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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[Lisa S]

What about simply pulling the tooth out, filling and all? I have one tooth that has a mercury filling in it, and the dentist wants to give me a crown. It's a rear molar, the furthest tooth back. I can't afford the crown, and I certainly can't afford a specialty holistic dentist with no insurance... but it only costs about $125 go get it pulled. I know it can "mess up your bite," but isn't that less than the cost to my health from the filling? I am autoimmune. There is another tooth (another rear molar) I would consider doing the same for, just to save the money but get the bad fillings out of my body. Any advice on that???

[Christine Cagnina]

Lisa--- we have a similar question for my husband... his crown just fell off, and he's debating just pulling the tooth v. getting another crown or doing a bridge (which is what the holistic dentist wants to do, to the tune of over $4,000). What are the downfalls for just pulling out a tooth???

[Christine Cagnina]

And--- Pat--- do you have anything discussing potential downfalls of using stainless steel crowns? As you know, when my son was 2, he had to have 17 cavities taken care of... 3 of those were baby root canals. The cavities were filled with composite (I am praying they weren't high bpa, which I just learned about), and the root canals used stainless steel for the caps. The holistic dentist (Dr. McMillan) cautioned against using any stainless steel. Any thoughts??

[Pat Robinson]

If over the age of 40, I'd probably just pull the tooth. I would not do a root canal, Period. I'd do a bridge or other aesthetic alternative, if needed.

With autoimmune, there is much more going on than ONE amalgam filling, though. To place a crown, they must abrade the surface to make the crown adhere. I wouldn't be keen on having a crown on top of the mercury, nor removing the mercury (without safe removal protocols) with autoimmune issues.

I would have four or fewer amalgams removed in one sitting with IOAMT protocol and active chelating according to Andy Cutler, if wanting to have children in the future. But, I'd wait 18 months after chelating to ttc. Or if I were younger than age 40 (just my opinion).

Our son has 3 stainless steel caps. I would not do that again. Composite all had BPA until this past few years. Can't worry about what is already done. The stainless caps come out around age 10 when the new molars come in. We debated about having the capped teeth removed due to the disclosure that "100% retain bacteria" under the caps ---and that seems almost worse than amalgams. This causes anaerobic bacteria to develop. Don't get me started on how dentists are my least favorite discipline in the medical industry. (I have 10 amalgams and my son and I have mercury issues as a result.)


Pat

[Lisa S]

Thanks for replying everyone. Pat - I do have a few other mercury fillings in my mouth and am sensitive to chemicals, so less = more for me. Last year, on that rear molar, the tooth chipped while I was eating popcorn and I swallowed the mercury amalgam filling :( I really, really hope it exited my system quickly. So that's when I went to the dentist and asked him to just pull the tooth, but (Christine, this will answer your question...) the dentist said that pulling it would mess up my bite by making it uneven, which could contribute to my TMJ further, plus that you don't want less teeth because that interferes with your chewing, which can adversely affect your health. Well, my health is already adversely affected, so I am just trying to decide the lesser of the two evils. I already know I have a few other cavities that I can't afford to fill, too. And since worrying is also bad for one's health, I will try not to worry!

[Lisa S]

... also, Christine: $125 versus $4000. Holy cow!

[Pat Robinson]

I would expect the amalgam to be excreted in stool.

Have you tried magnesium for TMJ?


Pat

[Lisa S]

Well, I'm on the magnesium protocol for migraine, so that should help. But I really don't get that much jaw pain from TMJ anyways. It's just one more diagnosis on my list, lol. My migraines are unrelated to it.

[Pat Robinson]

Avoid taking calcium alongside magnesium, as the calcium is preferentially absorbed. Most of us have adequate calcium in our diet. Nettle Leaf infusions and Bone Broths are great sources of magnesium.

Pat

[Lisa S]

Sharon, that seems like it could help me quite a bit. I've been reading the info links you gave. Pat, what's your opinion? Have you heard anything about zeolite?