I have terrible teeth; always have. My baby teeth were full of fillings - meaning that I've had mercury in my head for about 50 years. Doctors and dentists who believe that amalgam fillings are dangerous are vilified by "science-based" medical folks. Funny thing, though ... do you ever see a mercury thermometer on drugstore shelves any more? University after university has published guidelines on the safe handling of mercury. OSHA has published guidelines. Texas A&M - no obscure institution - says "All forms of mercury are toxic. ... Elemental mercury, as a vapor, penetrates the central nervous system (CNS), where it is ionized and trapped, resulting in its extreme toxic effects. ... Depending on the type of mercury and dose, symptoms may appear relatively quickly (acute disease) or take a number of years to appear (chronic disease)." Read the whole document here. Hmmmm. So it seems that fibro symptoms are virtually the same as heavy metal toxicity, particularly mercury poisoning. The symptoms are also identical to Candidiasis (resulting in Leaky Gut Syndrome), Lyme Disease, and others, which is why doctors who try to treat fibro take a multi-pronged approach. Most will try first to heal the gut through diet and sometimes drugs or supplements while simultaneously detoxing the body.
That's why Fibro doctor #1 suggested I have my amalgam fillings removed. I hadn't done any research on amalgams yet, so as sick as I was, I didn't understand the value in something so involved and expensive. Five years later, Doctor #3 was more emphatic. I found a biological dentist who removes amalgams following IAOMT (International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology) guidelines. Because taking out fillings with a high-speed burr generates a cloud of mercury vapor and very fine particles that can be respirated and then systemically absorbed, biological dentists reduce exposure in prescribed ways: they slice the filling and remove it in chunks using constant water spray with a high-volume suction next to the tooth; the dentist and assistant wear nitrile glove and respirators with mercury-rated filters; the patient wears a positive pressure respiration device and the face & eyes are covered with a barrier to protect from spattered amalgam particles. Many dentists use a rubber dam in the patient's mouth to prevent particles from going down the throat. The room should be ventilated so that particles and vapor aren't dispersed throughout the office.
In the initial exam, Dentist found that all but one of my 12 back teeth need new fillings or to have amalgams removed and replaced. Five of those require crowns. This dentist uses no metal in the mouth because it can cause conductivity issues or allergic reactions, so the crowns are all porcelain - beautiful ... and expensive. This little adventure will set me back $11k.
Dentist does all the work in one quadrant of the mouth at a time so as to get it all done in one numbing session. I had the first quadrant done in May, a crown, and a filling in the tooth next door. I couldn't bite down on the temporary crown - pain - and I hoped that the permanent crown would be better. It was worse! I scheduled and cancelled two or three appointments for the next quadrant because I couldn't bite down without pain and went back multiple times to have the crown adjusted. I could feel cusps on one side that were much bigger than the natural tooth, so it was no wonder I was hitting hard. Before we went on vacation last month, I went back to have Dentist file some more off - and he filed the cusps way down and also took a little off the top tooth that was hitting the bottom because he said any time there's a change, your brain tries to adapt by shifting the bite, and nearby the teeth actually move. I didn't want to have work done on the next quadrant until I could eat well on the first crown; it still hurts if I bite just so, but it's enough better that I went ahead with the second quadrant today, which involved replacing a crown that had both an amalgam and a composite filling, removing an amalgam filling from the tooth in front of it, and filling some fissures in the tooth behind it.
My mouth was open for two and a half hours with a lot of pounding, pulling and stretching going on. When the numbness began wearing off two hours after I left the office, the area ached as if a tooth had been pulled. I took some ibuprofen, which helped immensely, but my jaw is so sore I can't chew. I accidentally bit down on the newly repaired teeth at dinner and the filled tooth hurt like crazy.
Smiles of the day (the first being my frozen-face droopy smile this morning that kinda made me giggle inside):
* It's 8 p.m. and Dentist called a few minutes ago to see how I'm doing :-)
* The view from the dental chair:
Every treatment room in the building has a view similar to this; if you have to sit in a chair for more than 2 hours with your mouth propped wide open, it's nice to look out at this rather than a bare wall!
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