A great new article in Natural News was recently published regarding the importance and also expressing important knowledge about holistic dentistry.
Here’s the highlights:
(NaturalNews) To maintain good health, it is crucial to minimize our exposure to toxins. Therefore, we should consult the right doctor when we need one, opt for fresh organic foods, and be careful with the cleaning and cosmetic products we use. But did you know that choosing the right holistic dentist for yourself and your family is no less important than having a good and honest doctor?
What many people don’t realize is that the health of our teeth and gums is the forerunner for the health of the rest of our body. One dentist, Dr. Idelle S. Brand, experienced this first-hand when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease.
When conventional doctors told her that the disease was incurable and she’d better consider going on a permanent disability pension, she decided to take matters into her own hands and found alternative ways to regain her health. She said that she was able to get past the disease by detoxing her body. Her method worked so well that she wrote a book about it – “My Secrets to Regaining Health.”
Holistic dentistry. What’s it all about?
In Midtown Manhattan, Dr. Brand runs The Brand Wellness Center which brings a unique and holistic approach to dentistry. She usually treats patients with chronic illnesses that have no common medical cure. According to Dr. Brand, patients have experienced that everything that is happening in their mouth is related to their overall body health.
“When you make that connection you can start turning around chronic illnesses,” Dr. Brand told The Epoch Times.
A consultation usually includes aromatherapy and healing sound frequencies. You can also opt to hold special rocks that absorb stress during a dental procedure. Furthermore, she’ll teach you about how the organs and meridians relate to each one of your teeth before releasing you from her care after a free 2-minute meditation session to balance your energy fields.
Why you should consider dental detoxing for better health
As stated by Dr. Brand, toxins are constantly wreaking havoc on our system and contribute to autoimmune diseases. Nonetheless, the importance of toxins in teeth and the rest of the body is often overlooked and ignored in conventional medicine and dentistry.
She added that until people remove these toxins from their body, it is going to be difficult to get well. When you free your body from toxins you put less stress on the immune system so your body can start functioning better.
If you still have teeth with a mercury filling, the first step to better health is to remove the mercury-leaching source and then nurture your body back to health by removing mercury and other toxins through proper nutrition.
Apart from safely removing these toxic fillings, Dr. Brand noted that people should be extra careful and make sure the dentist replaces them with white fillings that are fluoride and bisphenol A (BPA) free. There is no point in replacing one toxin with another.
You have a right to know that amalgam dental fillings are 50% mercury.
But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t want you to know. FDA denies you this right by refusing to provide dental consumers with direct information – i.e., patient labeling – about amalgam’s mercury content. In its 2009 dental amalgam rule, FDA goes so far as to illogically claim that providing this information directly to consumers would somehow prevent dentists and patients from discussing treatment options.
This week, Consumers for Dental Choice filed a petition calling on FDA to require patient labeling for amalgam, which would include at least information about amalgam’s mercury, risks, and mercury-free filling options.
The petition points out that FDA continues to reject proposals to provide consumers with direct information about amalgam’s mercury even though Zogby polls show that almost 90% of people are not learning this important fact from their dentists….
….even though the Minamata Convention on Mercury requires each party to promote and facilitate provision of information on mercury-free alternatives to the public….
….even though the experience of Sweden and Norway – where amalgam use is banned – proves that public awareness of amalgam’s mercury results in a phase down of amalgam use, as the Minamata Convention requires….
….even though new international guidance from United Nations Environment Programme, a brochure entitled Lessons from Countries Phasing Down Dental Amalgam Use, urges countries to raise public awareness of amalgam’s mercury….
….even though FDA’s own expert advisory panel repeatedly says patient labeling is needed for dental amalgam….
…and even though FDA’s own Guidance on Medical Device Patient Labeling indicates that patient labeling is necessary to ensure safety and proper disposal.
It is time for FDA to get consumers the information they need to say “No” to mercury amalgam fillings. We invite you to join us in challenging FDA’s “no right to know” policy. The Director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health – and the person who signed FDA’s amalgam rule approving the industry cover-up of the mercury – is Dr. Jeff Shuren.
We urge you to email Director Shuren at Jeff.Shuren@fda.hhs.gov or call him at 301-796-5900 to ask: When will FDA order the disclosure of dental amalgam’s mercury to American parents and patients.
For more information please click here: http://www.toxicteeth.org/pressRoom_recentNews/May-2016/Challenge-FDA-s–no-right-to-know–policy.aspx
We’ve been keeping a pulse on the global and domestic plans for mercury reduction, here’s another update:
US Can Benefit From Worldwide Mercury Reduction
Global reductions in mercury emissions should lead to billions in economic benefits for U.S.
Cambridge, Massachusetts – Mercury pollution is a global problem with local consequences: Emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources travel around the world through the atmosphere, eventually settling in oceans and waterways, where the pollutant gradually accumulates in fish. Consumption of mercury-contaminated seafood leads to increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairments.
In the past several years, a global treaty and a domestic policy have been put in place to curb mercury emissions. But how will such policies directly benefit the U.S.?
In a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MIT researchers report that global action on reducing mercury emissions will lead to twice the economic benefits for the U.S., compared with domestic action, by 2050. However, those in the U.S. who consume locally caught freshwater fish, rather than seafood from the global market, will benefit more from domestic rather than international mercury regulations.
The researchers calculated the projected U.S. economic benefits from the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty adopted in 2013 to reduce mercury emissions worldwide, compared with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), a national regulation set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce mercury pollution from the country’s coal-fired power plants.
Overall, while both policies are projected to lead to roughly the same amount of reductions in mercury deposited on U.S. soil compared to a no-policy case, Americans’ consumption of mercury by 2050 are estimated to be 91 percent lower under the global treaty, compared to 32 percent under U.S. policy alone. The researchers say these numbers reflect the U.S. commercial fish market, 90 percent of which is sourced from Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins — regions that are heavily influenced by emissions from non-U.S. sources, including China.
Some of the California Pacific Medical Center physician’s well-heeled patients were coming into her clinic complaining of fatigue, or trouble thinking – an on-and-off feeling of not being well. Sometimes it was problems with vision, hearing, nausea and vomiting, or a metallic taste in the mouth.
In 1999, she began keeping a tally of what they ate. Fish, it turned out – a lot of it. Specifically large fish, like shark, tuna, swordfish, cod and ahi tuna.
A possible cause began to emerge for their ailments: mercury, a potent neurotoxin that builds up in fish and can cause serious illness.
“I have a Pacific Heights practice,” said Hightower. “They’re not fishing in Martinez. They’re fishing at Bryans and Whole Foods.”
But another at-risk population in the Bay Area, she said, are lower income folks, who do spend time fishing out on the piers in Martinez, Berkeley, Pinole and other East Bay cities every season not only for recreation, but to supplement the family dinner table. The striped bass, sturgeon and halibut they bring home can be loaded with mercury, which is widespread in the bay but impossible to detect with the naked eye.
……
So where does all this mercury come from? Mercury enters the bay watershed from a number of sources, including stormwater and wastewater runoff from local oil refineries and cement kilns. Significant quantities also drift through the air from coal-burning power plants in China.
But the biggest culprit can be found at very root of California’s history and prosperity. In the 19th century, Gold Rush miners also mined mercury in copious amounts in the cinnabar-rich hills just south of San Jose. To extract mercury, crushed ore was heated in furnaces and transformed into a vapor. As the gas cooled and condensed, it turned into a liquid form known as quicksilver, which is naturally attracted to gold. Sierra miners used it to separate gold from crushed rock.
Roughly 2,000 pounds of mercury enter the bay each year from all these different sources. The bay is slowly cleaning itself, washing an estimated 3,100 pounds a year out to sea. But at the present rate, it will take generations for the bay to flush out so much mercury that fish are no longer contaminated.
Hartford Courant, Connecticut’s #1 newspaper, featured an op-ed exposing yet another injustice resulting from the traditional dental industry’s obsession with mercury: the resurgence of separate but “equal” dentistry.*Authored by Hartford city councilwoman and civil rights attorney Cynthia Jennings, former Hartford health director and physician Mark Mitchell, and author and mercury-free dentist Mark Breiner, this op-ed explains why the state of Connecticut must stop mandating mercury fillings for families on Medicaid immediately.On March 1, 2015, the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) handed down a new decree: “Medicaid will not pay for composite restorations in the molar teeth regardless of whether the [dental] practice markets itself as ‘amalgam free’.” It then tells dentists, “If your office cannot provide amalgam services, please have your patients call the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership (CTDHP) (1-855-CT-DENTAL) to locate a new dental home.”With almost half of all dentists practicing mercury-free dentistry, low-income families in Connecticut now have less access to dental care than ever… and it gets worse. As the op-ed explains, “By segregating Medicaid patients from access to mercury-free dentists, DSS creates a separate-but-equal system of dentistry. As thinking Americans know, separate-but-equal was never equal in the Jim Crow days, and it is not equal today.”
As we can see in Connecticut, there is nothing equal about mercury-free composite fillings for those who can afford them… and toxic mercury fillings for everyone else.
Beyond Connecticut, state Medicaid programs are divided on whether mercury-free dentistry is allowed. On the plus side, an initiative led by Yamhill County Commissioner Mary Starrett has borne fruit: the Oregon state government has thrown in the towel on mandating mercury fillings for children on Medicaid. The reason? There are so many mercury-free dentists these days that excluding them from participating in Medicaid severely limits low-income families’ access to dental care.
Oregon’s new policy is evidence of the mercury-free dentistry movement’s extraordinary growth! But sadly, even in states where Medicaid will pay for mercury-free fillings, that policy is not well-known to dental consumers.
Like Medicaid, insurance companies fabricate barriers to mercury-free dentistry. But we are working to overcome them. Over 1,800 of you have already signed thepetition insisting that Aetna change its dental insurance plans that require policyholders to pay extra out-of-pocket for mercury-free fillings. And well over 100 health professionals (including 121 dentists) endorsed a letter urging this insurance colossus to stop favoring amalgam.
A new article posted on Mercola.com states that the EPA’s Next Target will be American Dentists Who Are Mercury Polluters.
As reported by Mercola:
Those silver mercury fillings whose vapors readily pass through cell membranes, across your blood-brain barrier, and into your central nervous system? The damage doesn’t stop there.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently cited studies showing that approximately half of the mercury in the environment is there due to dental offices’ amalgam (i.e. silver filling) waste.
In fact, dental clinics are the main source of mercury discharges to public water treatment centers, according to the EPA, which estimates there are about 160,000 dentists in the US who use or remove amalgam and virtually all of them discharge their wastewater to water treatment centers.
In all, dentists discharge about 4.4 tons of mercury a year to such centers. The problem, of course, is that the mercury then settles into sewer systems or the biosolids and sewage sludge that are generated during water treatment.
What happens to the sludge? Some of it ends up in landfills, while other portions are incinerated (thereby polluting the air) or applied as agricultural fertilizer (polluting your food), or seep into waterways (polluting fish and wildlife).
Unfortunately, mercury is persistent and bioaccumulative once it reaches the environment. And when it is exposed to certain microorganisms in water, it can change into highly toxic methylmercury – the type that now contaminates most seafood.
Most Americans don’t realize that there is a simple solution that could drastically cut down on the environmental pollution caused by mercury waste, if only dentists would choose to use it.
EPA Proposes Rule Requiring Dentists to Use Amalgam Separators
The road to a federal rule mandating separators for American dentists has been long and circuitous.
The US is a federal system, so ideas generally start at the state level. A century ago, a distinguished Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, called the states “laboratories of democracy.”
Fourteen years ago, Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project launched a campaign to persuade state and local governments to mandate separators. He enlisted state-based environmental groups, plus national groups like Clean Water Action and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The prototype for action was the city of Toronto, Canada, which cut the mercury in water by more than half by mandating separators. Over the decade of the 2000s, 12 states, most of them in the Northeast, mandated separators, as did many US cities, such as Duluth, Wichita, and San Francisco.
As pressure built for a national mandate, the EPA engaged first in political diversion, signing a document with the American Dental Association to do a voluntary system. As any economist or sensible citizen knows, voluntary environmental standards do not work, because it raises the cost of business only for the good guys.
Bender issued a report exposing the EPA plan. Because it was done in the final days of the second Bush Administration, he termed the report “The Midnight Deal.” Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich convened an oversight hearing calling more attention to EPA’s unwillingness to act.
In 2010, the EPA first announced it would create a rule requiring dentists who use dental amalgam to at least use best-management practices and install amalgam separators. An amalgam separator is a wastewater treatment device installed at the source, in the dental office, that can remove 95-99 percent of the mercury in the wastewater.
As originally proposed, EPA said the regulation would be finalized by 2012. But inaction continued, and it got worse in early 2014, when EPA staff were told the whole idea of a separator mandate would be put on the shelf. Conscientious staff objected to backing off addressing this major source of mercury pollution.
Bender, Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice, and major environmental groups launched a counterattack, Bender by making the case directly to the EPA (and to the media), while Brown launched a petition drive. This campaign was supported by Mercola.com, and many of our readers responded.
To its credit – and responding to the petition that over 13,000 of you signed– EPA decided to go forward with the rule. The rule’s expected finalization date is September 2015.1 But we must leave nothing to chance! At the end of this article we ask you who have not yet signed that petition to do so!
By requiring dental offices to install amalgam separators, the EPA expects the amount of metals discharged into the environment to be cut by nine tons each year2 — and at a very low cost to dentists.
The average annual cost of an amalgam separator for dental offices is $700, making it a “common sense solution to managing mercury that would otherwise be released to air, land, and water,” the EPA noted.3
Unfortunately, dental offices that have already installed an amalgam separator will be allowed to keep it and be considered in compliance – even if it doesn’t meet the proposed amalgam removal efficiency standards.
Still, aside from eliminating the use of dental mercury entirely… which is the ultimate goal we’re working toward… this is a step in the right direction. About a dozen states already mandate the use of amalgam separators, but the EPA’s rule will add a federal requirement.
Why Are So Many Dentists Still Using Mercury?
In order to protect human health and the environment, mercury should be phased out as soon, and as quickly, as possible. The international treaty, named the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury, requires the phasing out of many mercury-containing products, including thermometers, by 2020, and also calls for an end to all mercury mining within 15 years.
The treaty takes effect only after its ratification by 50 nations, which can take three or four years. Instead of working for the phase-down and ultimate phase-out of amalgam use, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Dental Association (ADA) are pushing stalling tactics.
They say that before phasing out amalgam we should go through a litany of diversions like (1) prevention of tooth decay, (2) research and mercury inventories, and (3) mercury waste management – none of which actually phase down amalgam use, as required by the Minamata Convention.
But no more research is needed before we take action – the many effective, affordable, and available mercury-free alternatives have already been researched for over half a century, and we certainly don’t need any more research telling us that mercury is a problem.
And the realistic solution to waste management, of course, even beyond the amalgam separators, is to stop creating more mercury waste – i.e., stop using amalgam. Today, more than 50 percent of dentists in America have stopped using mercury filings.
That’s major progress and Charlie Brown’s Consumers for Dental Choice played a huge role in that change as when he first started his crusade only 3% of US dentists were mercury free. He helped prevent dental boards from prosecuting many of the early mercury free dentists.
But we still have a long way to go to end this archaic practice of putting mercury in people’s teeth (and into the environment). Unfortunately, we seem to have stalled out at around 50 percent of dentists who still insist on using amalgam. Charlie Brown, leader of Consumers for Dental Choice, noted:
“We think the pro-mercury dentists have stabilized because they won’t learn anything new and the profits are so easy. They are concealing from the patients that amalgam is a mercury filling.
The enabler of pro-mercury dentistry or of dental mercury is the FDA. The FDA says to dentists and says to the manufacturers, ‘You may conceal the mercury from patients. You don’t need to tell them,’ and of course, therefore they don’t.”
Amalgam pollutes 1) water via dental clinic releases and human waste; 2) air via cremation, dental clinic emissions, sludge incineration, and respiration; and 3) land via landfills, burials, and fertilizer. Once in the environment, dental mercury converts to its even more toxic form: methylmercury and becomes a major source of mercury in the fish people eat. Dental mercury in the environment can cause brain damage and neurological problems, especially for children and the unborn babies, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Amalgam endangers our health.
Amalgam emits mercury vapor even after it is implanted into the body. This mercury is bioaccumulative, and it crosses the placenta to accumulate in fetuses as well. Dental amalgam’s mercury is a known health risk, especially for children, fetuses, nursing infants, and people with impaired kidney function especially. Even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concedes that the developing neurological systems of children and fetuses are more susceptible to “the neurotoxic effects of mercury vapor” – and that there is no evidence that amalgam is safe for these populations.
Amalgam damages teeth.
Placing amalgam requires the removal of a significant amount of healthy tooth matter. This removal, in turn, weakens overall tooth structure which increases the need for future dental work. On top of that, amalgam fillings – which expand and contract over time – crack teeth and once again create the need for still more dental work.
Amalgam endangers dental workers.
Due to mercury exposure from amalgam in the workplace, studies have shown that dental workers have elevated systemic mercury levels. Few of these dental workers – mostly women of child-bearing age – are given protective garb or air masks to minimize their exposure to mercury; many are not aware of the risks of occupational mercury exposure. As a result, dental workers have reported neurological problems, reproductive failures, and birth defects caused by amalgam in the workplace.
Amalgam is frequently implanted without informed consent.
Most dentists do not inform consumers that amalgam contains mercury. As a result, over 76% of consumers do not know that amalgam is mainly mercury according to Zogby polls. But once they are informed, 77% of people do not want mercury fillings – and they were even willing to pay more to avoid this unnecessary source of mercury exposure.
Amalgam perpetuates social injustice…
While middle class consumers opt for mercury-free filling materials, people in developing nations, low-income families, minorities, military personnel, prisoners, and people with disabilities are still subjected to amalgam. Racial minorities are more likely to receive amalgam; for example, dentists place almost 25% more mercury fillings in American Indian patients than in white patients. In his testimony before Congress, former Virginia state NAACP president Emmitt Carlton described this injustice as “choice for the rich, mercury for the poor.”
Amalgam costs taxpayers.
Taxpayers foot the bill for the environmental clean-up of amalgam and the medical care associated with mercury-related health problems. Meanwhile, the dentists who dump their mercury into our environment and our bodies are not held financially responsible.
Amalgam is diverted to illegal gold mining.
Amalgam is commonly shipped to developing countries labeled for dental use, but then it is diverted to illegal use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Not only are the miners exposed to the risks of mercury poisoning, but the dental mercury they use to extract gold is released into the environment.
Amalgam is interchangeable with mercury-free filling materials
Amalgam is interchangeable with numerous other filling materials – including resin composites, compomers, and glass ionomers – that have rendered amalgam completely unnecessary for any clinical situation. In fact, the mercury-free alternatives have made amalgam so non-essential that entire nations, such as the Scandinavian countries, have banned the use of amalgam. Developing nations have benefitted from modern mercury-free techniques, such as atraumatic restorative treatment (ART), that only cost half as much as amalgam and make dental care more accessible.
Amalgam drives up the price of mercury-free alternatives.
The continued use of amalgam keeps the price of mercury-free filling materials high by decreasing demand for these alternatives. As use of mercury-free materials increases, their price is expected to decrease even further.
97% of Terminal Cancer Patients Previously had this Dental Procedure…
Dr. Mercola describes and warns of the inherent dangers of having root canal treatment performed on teeth. He says this is a procedure that occurs approximately 41,000 times each day in the USA. It is accomplished usually be a specialist called an Endodontist using methods approved by the American Dental Association and various endodontic societies. Endodontic treatment has been performed since around the beginning of the 20th Century. Originally the procedure was rather crude by comparison to today’s techniques.
Despite those improvements (such as using ozone) at cleaning the root canals within a tooth and sealing them, it is considered that this is a procedure which is impossible at effectively removing 100% of the infected tissue and microorganisms within the internal anatomy of any tooth. Dr. Mercola gives references to studies which have been done over decades showing proof that pathogenic organisms are invariably left behind which ultimately morph into more virulent organisms causing systemic diseases within the human body. He references work done by Dr. Tom Stone, Dr. Douglas Cook,Dr. Weston Price, Dr. Meinig, Dr. Robert Jones, Dr. Josef Issels and Dr. Hal Huggins.
It is thought as long as your immune system remains strong, any bacteria that stray away from an infected tooth are captured by the body’s defense system and destroyed. However, once your immune system is compromised and fails to function normally, pathogenic microorganisms are able to proliferate and cause various diseases. The claim is made that the following diseases have their etiology in teeth treated by endodontic therapy: kidney disease, arthritis and rheumatic diseases, neurological disease (including ALS and MS) and autoimmune diseases (Lupus erythematosis and others).
Diagram of the tooth, including root
It was Dr. Robert Jones who found in his research the following correlations: 93% of women with breast cancer had at least one tooth treated endodontically; 7% showed other pathology. He noted that tumors, in a majority of cases, occurred on the same side of the body as the root canal treated tooth or where other oral pathology was found. And Dr. Issels has reported that, in his 40 years of treating terminally ill cancer patients, 97% of them had teeth that were treated endodontically.
It should be noted that most research that is generally accepted by scientists and health professionals is done so after double blind and/or duplicated studies have been done. Dr. Mercola does not mention this in his lengthy article, therefore the reader is obliged to do his or her own due diligence regarding this information. This in no way suggests that this information lacks credibility.
It has been confirmed by the American Dental Association for over a decade that some pathogenic microorganisms from the oral cavity are known to be the etiological factor in some systemic diseases. However, it has not been confirmed that their source has been from one or more teeth having been treated by root canal therapy. Some adversaries to the procedure claim this is the case because the ADA favors treatment modalities performed by their accredited specialties, and also because the alternative of extraction of teeth and replacement of them can be extensive and costly.
What You Need to Know to AVOID a Root Canal
I strongly recommend never getting a root canal. Risking your health to preserve a tooth simply doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, there are many people who’ve already have one. If you have, you should seriously consider having the tooth removed, even if it looks and feels fine. Remember, as soon as your immune system is compromised, your risk of of developing a serious medical problem increases—and assaults on your immune system are far too frequent in today’s world.
If you have a tooth removed, there are a few options available to you.
Partial denture: This is a removable denture, often just called a “partial.” It’s the simplest and least expensive option.
Bridge: This is a more permanent fixture resembling a real tooth but is a bit more involved and expensive to build.
Implant: This is a permanent artificial tooth, typically titanium, implanted in your gums and jaw. There are some problems with these due to reactions to the metals used. Zirconium is a newer implant material that shows promise for fewer complications.
But just pulling the tooth and inserting some sort of artificial replacement isn’t enough.
Dentists are taught to remove the tooth but leave your periodontal ligament. But as you now know, this ligament can serve as a breeding ground for deadly bacteria. Most experts who’ve studied this recommend removing the ligament, along with one millimeter of the bony socket, in order to drastically reduce your risk of developing an infection from the bacterially infected tissues left behind.
I strongly recommend consulting a biological dentist because they are uniquely trained to do these extractions properly and safely, as well as being adept at removing mercury fillings, if necessary. Their approach to dental care is far more holistic and considers the impact on your entire body—not JUST your mouth.
Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) handed down a new decree: “Medicaid will not pay for composite restorations in the molar teeth regardless of whether the [dental] practice markets itself as ‘amalgam free’.” It then tells dentists, “If your office cannot provide amalgam services, please have your patients call the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership (CTDHP) (1-855-CT-DENTAL) to locate a new dental home.”With almost half of all dentists practicing mercury-free dentistry, low-income families in Connecticut now have less access to dental care than ever… and it gets worse. As the op-ed explains, “By segregating Medicaid patients from access to mercury-free dentists, DSS creates a separate-but-equal system of dentistry. As thinking Americans know, separate-but-equal was never equal in the Jim Crow days, and it is not equal today.”
