Washington, DC— More than 100 million Americans have silver dental fillings.  But the vast majority is not aware that traditional silver dental fillings consist of 50% mercury.  Mercury is one of the most toxic minerals found in nature, second only to radioactive minerals.  Mercury fillings continuously release small amounts of mercury vapor that patients inhale. 

To date, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned mercury in disinfectants and thermometers, warned against mercury in certain foods, and prohibited the use of mercury in all veterinary products. The UK disallows the use of silver mercury fillings for pregnant women, and Scandinavian countries are phasing out dental amalgam containing mercury.

Despite growing awareness among medical experts, scientists, government officials, and the general public of the dangers of human exposure to mercury, the U.S. federal government continues to allow the unregulated use of mercury in dentistry. The FDA, the agency charged with regulating silver fillings, is permitting the sale of a product that has not been proven safe and has not been classified as the law requires.  It continues to allow the distribution of silver fillings without disclosing to the American people that the fillings contain significant amounts of mercury and that mercury vapor is released during the entire life of the filling.

Dental offices are one of the prime sources of mercury pollution in our environment.  The FDA, however, has never written an environmental impact statement on a product that is a major source of environmental pollution.  The damage done to our environment by the disposal of silver fillings is unacceptable when non-toxic alternative materials are now available for every kind of tooth cavity.

In late April, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released two studies that examine the impact of silver fillings in children.  The government-funded studies found no evidence that dental fillings containing mercury are a health risk to children.  Supporters of silver fillings claim that the NIH studies prove conclusively that the product is safe.

The NIH studies, however, do not assert that the use of mercury fillings in dentistry is risk-free.  An editorial by Dr. Herbert L. Needleman, printed in the same April edition of the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) in which the two studies appear, cautions against using the studies to conclude that the use of mercury fillings in children poses no significant health risks.  And Dr. Boyd Haley, Chemistry Department Chair, University of Kentucky, declares that the studies prove nothing more than what is already well-known about the toxic property of mercury -- that it builds up in the body after extended exposure over many years and slowly impairs the body’s physiological ability to excrete mercury and other heavy metals.

Much more work remains to be done.  I commend the FDA for announcing hearings later in September on mercury dental amalgams.  But hearings alone are not the answer.  The FDA must address the environmental impact of mercury fillings, require proof of safety, and level with the American people about the fact that silver fillings contain toxic levels of mercury.