Mercury – contributing to health issues such as bipolar diagnosis?

Eating balanced meals and so minimizing snacks is not only good for mood and staying physically well, it is also better for our teeth.

As chemistry students in the 1970’s we were encouraged to dip a finger in a beaker of pure mercury to see what it felt like. It felt strange! This was a one-off for everyone in our class. Teachers knew mercury was toxic but felt it worth letting students come into direct contact with pure mercury just for a few seconds, for an experience that could be remembered for life.

Also in the 1970’s, consumption of snack-food, especially sugary sweets and potato crisps that would stick in the teeth, was on the increase. Dentistry then seemed to be almost entirely about filling teeth with mercury amalgam. I believe everyone in our class had at least one mercury amalgam tooth filling long before leaving school and a lot of children had many of these fillings.

Even all those years ago, mercury toxicity was well-understood, as was its link with mental disturbances. The ‘mad-hatter’ in Alice in Wonderland was based on the hat makers who developed severe mental health problems through using mercury every day in their work.

I doubt if it will ever be proved how much mercury fillings have contributed to a range of disorders, and I am unlikely to pay to have any of my own fillings removed after all these years. What I am hoping is that parents can be better informed and that the next generation of children are able to take better care of their teeth. Then even if one or two fillings are needed these can be with the newer non-toxic materials, especially those that need far less drilling and damage to the teeth, as described in the film below this excellent info-graphic:

Discover more about mercury and how you can get this toxic, bio-accumulative substance from your dentist through our info-graphic “Mercury Dental Fillings: By the Numbers.” Use the embed code to share it on your website or visit our info-graphic page for the high-res version.

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Discover more about mercury and how you can get this toxic, bioaccumulative substance from your dentist through our infographic “Mercury Dental Fillings: By the Numbers.” Visit our infographic page for the high-res version.

Film about mercury amalgam fillings: