Some countries – Sweden last year, and Norway, Denmark and Germany, have banned or restricted the use of mercury fillings. But not France or the UK. The European commission is due to publish the findings of its review on dental amalgam fillings in March. In a preliminary report, published online in July, the company tasked with the study, Bio Intelligence Service, recommended phasing out mercury in dental care in Europe. Doctors and patients are increasingly critical of what are technically known as dental amalgam fillings, allegedly responsible for certain neurological or auto-immune disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. - because of this Some Dentist prefer to say this- “As a matter ofprecaution I would rather not use them for my patients,” A causal link between exposure to dental mercury and the onset of disease is difficult to establish, according to several organisations including WWF-France, RES and Générations Futures. However, for those of you who have mercury fillings it is preferable not to rush to the dentist's to have them out. "Careless removal can be more dangerous due to the amount of mercury that may be released in a short time," Grosman warns. |
"France's 40,000 dentists use it less and less for two reasons: the fuss about mercury has made them cautious, but also for reasons of appearance," says Michel Goldberg, the spokesman for the French Dental Association (ADF). A report published by France's Healthcare Products Safety Agency (Afssaps)in 2005 concluded that mercury fillings were harmless. Three | ||
years later the health minister Roselyne Bachelot assured France's upper chamber that "the amount of mercury released into the organism by a dental amalgam is very small and well below the threshold at which toxic effects may be observed". She added: "We know of no proven cases of a patient having suffered mercury intoxication due to dental amalgams." Nonetheless, Afssaps recommends that mothers expecting a baby or breast-feeding, and anyone with kidney problems should avoid mercury fillings. "There is no health risk," says Dr David Siarri, a Paris dentist, but at the same time he admits that he uses "very few dental amalgams and only in certain cases." | ||
