Integrative Health Blog

Why would anyone want to remove mercury amalgam fillings from their mouth?

The short answer is: your health may depend on it.

Our health is under assault. Measured by any statistic - there is more cancer, diabetes, brain deterioration (Alzheimer’s etc.), autoimmune disease, chronic pain, joint disease, fatigue, Lyme Disease… than ever before. And it seems to be getting worse.

Why? One reason is because we as a population are overwhelmed by so many toxins in our environment that may affect our neuroimmune system. Mercury in amalgam fillings, heavy metals in food, chemicals in water and personal care products and modern computer technology has created an environment for modern living that is not natural. Can the body handle it all?  The long term affects of living in a "toxic soup" are not yet known, but we can take measures to protect ourselves and our children. 

The Key to Getting and Remaining Healthy is Two-fold:

1. Remove the “bad stuff” from your life as much as possible. This includes toxins in your body, environment, diet, or negative stressors.

2. Give your body as much of the "good stuff" as possible, such as wholesome food, good "bugs" i.e. probiotics in the digestive system, consistent exercise, stress management, mental and emotional harmony, and minimize exposure to potential toxins.

The Dental Connection with Mercury Filling Amalgams and Health

The #1 rule of detoxification, or getting rid of the bad stuff, is to remove the toxic source. So, if you have mercury fillings in your mouth- it may be that with every chew, breath and swallow you are putting mercury, a known toxin, into your body. Mercury fillings can degrade over time and it is important for you to discuss mercury filling removal with your physician and an experienced holistic dentist. This is an important first step,but there is more to it than just removing old mercury amalgams from the mouth, as the mouth is intricately connected to other parts of the body.

The Mercury-Bowel Connection:

Swallowing mercury contaminates the GI tract and everything in it. Therefore, the bowel bugs will be exposed to a constant supply of mercury. The bad bugs (like Candida and other bowel pathogens) will absorb the mercury and flourish; the good bugs will die off. In addition, mercury fillings create bowel inflammation, which has an adverse effect on liver detoxification, and the liver is a primary detox organ.  A compromised liver reduces the body's ability to remove toxic chemicals, toxic metabolites and other ‘bad stuff’ from your blood and bowel. So with mercury fillings your gut microbiome, or internal environment, may be altered and detox functions reduced. Over time the buildup of toxins in the body is referred to as Toxic Retention Syndrome. So removing mercury amalgams safely  is an initial step to recovery.

How to Remove Mercury Safely

Safe mercury removal requires that all participants and the environment are maximally protected from the extraction of the mercury filling. This requires all (patient and staff) protected from breathing the mercury contaminated air surrounding the dental operation. In addition, high evacuation air filters and ionic devices are used to purify the environment as quickly as possible. The patient has multiple layers of barriers to prevent mercury exposure. First, they take chlorella, a great detox and binder food. Then the mouth, along with the latrile dam is smeared with chlorella. Third, the mercury is removed with high speed suction in as many chunks as possible to minimize vaporizing the mercury filling. The environment is protected because the waste fluids suctioned are purified by a mercury separation unit to prevent is from going back into the sewer system and eventually our rivers. NIHA biological dentists have practiced mercury free dentistry for over 20 years with the safest protocols.

Desensitize the Toxins

With every toxin, the body must deal with it in the best way it can. Laws of homotoxicology state that the first phase of detoxification is excretion through urine, poop and sweat- but when that process is insufficient, the body uses the third law of deposition and stores toxins in the connective tissues. To facilitate this, the Autonomic Nervous System develops a neurological hyper reaction so the body doesn’t have to move it. We at NIHA find that any toxin that you are chronically exposed to you will be hyper reactive to. You are getting the mercury out of your mouth to get it out of your body and you cannot detox effectively if you neuroimmune system is in deposition, or storage mode. The solution is to neurologically reprogram the reaction to mercury and any other heavy metals – this aids in the Dental filling removal but it is even more important in facilitating the heavy metal detoxification from the brain and body.

Medical Detoxification of Heavy Metals and Toxic Chemicals

In addition, we supply our patients with resources and information to understand detoxification and apply it for a lifetime of healthy habits. A detox-literate doctor or health coach can provide the information to help you understand all of your options to help you recover and educate you about how to minimize future exposure to toxins and remain healthy.