My mouth full of Poison

My Story

Find Your Natural Groove exists because this story exists.  It’s the story of how I got my health back – health that truth be told, I didn’t even realise was missing and so much more.  It’s a long post and I make no apology for that.  I just hope that I am able to hold your interest to the end.  Please read it as it may well affect you or someone you care about.

When I was a kid I lived in the country.  We always lived in small towns and always a long way from a decent sized city.  From early in my childhood, my dentist was the school dentist.  Not sure if you’re familiar with the concept.  One day of each year you would arrive at school to the dreaded sight of (gasp, horror!)…….the School Dentist Van!!!  The van which would remain in situ for a couple of weeks would contain: a dentist (often recently graduated), a nurse and all the usual tremor inducing equipment including the drills!  At this point all the kids whose parents  had signed the consent form would start shaking.  They would continue to shake until their turn in the chair was finished at some stage during the next fortnight.

I spent a lot of time in that van.  So much that by the time I finished school, I had 11 major fillings and at least 3 root canals. I still had those fillings 30 years later.  They were silver.

Hatters in 18 and 19th century England used mercury to produce the felt to make hats.  Over time the mercury would build up in their systems and cause symptoms of dementia hence the phrase “Mad as a Hatter”.

Mercury Amalgams

Silver fillings are made of an amalgam of metals with around 50% being mercury.  Mercury just happens to be one of the most toxic substances known to man.  And it just happens to used in our mouths.  Silver fillings have been used since the mid 1800’s and were first used because the amalgam was easy to work with and durable.  Over the years, dental associations have argued and continue to argue that once silver fillings were in place in your mouth they were perfectly safe.  What doesn’t add up though is that before they get put in your mouth and indeed when they are taken out of your mouth, they are regarded as toxic waste and need to be handled as such by the dentist and their staff.

As I mentioned, I had most of my silver fillings for around 30 years give or take.  Sometimes they would fall out and off I’d go to get them replaced.  Sometimes the dentist just happened to find more cavities and before I knew it, I had bought and paid for more silver fillings.

A baby??

I had reached a stage of my life about 9 years ago, where I realised if I didn’t do something about moving out of a full time professional career and attempt to start a family, it simply wasn’t going to happen.  There can be no denying that I was no spring chicken but I really didn’t think getting and staying pregnant would be an issue for me.   Turns out I was wrong.

In the lead up to this time, I wasn’t feeling great.  I couldn’t put my finger on anything really specific but  I was losing my memory.  Important life events had been wiped from my hard drive.  I couldn’t remember details, I couldn’t remember people I had met,  I couldn’t remember the end of the sentence I was in the middle of saying.  I had a fairly constant pins and needles tingling in my hands and back and I had a constant and very heavy brain fog.  And I could get but couldn’t stay pregnant for very long. I just thought this was part of life.

Because of my advanced age my gynecologist prescribed Clomid – an ovulation stimulating prescription drug.  It didn’t agree with me!  (Turns out that for me it was also a scream, tear, tantrum, and general bitch stimulating drug!). After being peeled off the walls by those around me who cared (or were game to come near me!), I went to see an integrative medical doctor who “allowed” me to come off the Clomid.  She gave me the once over including checking my mouth.  Her words still ring in my ears…”I don’t like the look of those fillings” she said.  I was just happy to be allowed to stop taking those she-devil creating drugs.  She sent me home with a book to read called A Mouth Full of Poison which I let sit on the bookshelf for a month or two.

Something eventually lead me to look at the book.  I picked it up and read bits of it – it was pretty heavy for me back in those days.  I read enough to realise there might be something in all the “hype” related to mercury poisoning and so started researching on the web.  I found page after page of information each saying how dangerous silver fillings were to our health. Enough that I made a booking with a holistic dentist to investigate the option of having them removed.

She performed hair analysis testing which showed that I had extremely high (and I mean off the charts toxic dump extremely high) levels of mercury in my body.  Not the ideal environment for a growing fetus, let alone a grown adult’s brain trying to remember what month it was.

Diseases

So I mentioned that mercury is dangerous to our health.  Let’s take a look at some of the disease states it is believed to cause.  According to True Natural Health Magazine Spring 2012 in an article written by well known holistic dentist and founder of Australians for Mercury Free Dentistry, Dr Lisa Matriste, Mercury is believed to cause such conditions as :

Chronic Fatigue, Chemical Sensitivities, Fibromyalgia,  Diabetes, Cardio Vascular Diseases, Allergies, Digestive Disorders, Hormone Imbalances, Infertility, Insomnia, Tinnitus, Psychiatric Disorders and Neurodegenerative Problems as well as other Immune Dysfunction.

Here’s a quote from True Natural Health’s Spring 2012 issue

 

 “Yet the large dental supply company SDI fully informs dentists via the Materials Safety Data Sheet for its Amalgam product: “….contains mercury, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm….Inhalation of mercury vapors, dusts or organic vapours or skin absorption of mercury over long periods can cause mercurialism.  Symptoms include tremor, inflammation of the mouth and gums, excessive salivation, stomatitis, blue illness on gums, pain and numbness in extremities, weight loss, mental depression and nervousness.  Exposure may aggravate kidney disorders, chronic respiratory disease and nervous system disorders.”

An article from May 2013 in the Australian Womens Weekly listed the following as symptoms related to mercury toxicity

• Impaired development of the brain and nervous system in fetuses, infants and children
• Impaired thinking, memory, attention, language and fine motor and visual spatial skills
• Impaired peripheral vision
• Disturbed sensations (feelings of pins and needles especially in the hands, feet and around the mouth)
• Lack of co-ordination of movements
• Impairment of speech, hearing and walking
• Muscle weakness, wasting and twitching
• Tremors
• Emotional changes (eg mood swings, irritability, nervousness and  excessive shyness)
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Reduced cognitive function
• On higher exposure there may be effects on the kidney, respiratory failure and death.

From this list we know that mercury can have a major effect on the nervous system of children.  And it passes through the placental barrier.  It’s extremely toxic to adults.  Imagine how toxic it is to an unborn baby!

Amalgam manufacturers say that mercury shouldn’t be stored above 25 degrees Celsius because it is vapourised at this temperature – it becomes a toxic breathable vapour.  Well unless I’m very poorly informed, aren’t we all running around with our thermostats set to at least 36 degrees Celsius?

Every time we eat, brush our teeth, grind or clench our teeth and especially when we have hot food, the mercury in our silver fillings is vapourising in our mouths and we are swallowing it.  Some of us are better at dealing with it than others but suffice to say, it’s not safe for anyone to have in their mouths.  And the longer it’s there, the more cumulative the effect.  I have no doubt with all my ticks, tremours and numbness, I was well down the track to a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis or some other autoimmune disease.

Here’s a video well worth watching to the end.  It highlights many issues associated with silver fillings including graphically showing how easily they produce mercury vapour in the mouth.

 

How to have silver fillings removed:

As I mentioned, it is vital that you see a dentist who is trained in the safe removal protocols for removing mercury amalgams.

They will use

• Rubber dams inside your mouth to prevent any of the amalgam going down your throat,
• oxygen so you don’t breath any mercury vapour during the procedure
• proper suction,
• effective air conditioning to ensure the air is not recycled
• Proper protection for themselves and their staff to ensure they do not come into contact with any mercury vapours.
• Inert white composite filling to replace the original silver fillings`

And they will help you with an appropriate post procedure detoxification protocol to carefully remove the toxic load of mercury stored in your body.

It’s important to note that you shouldn’t have any of this work done if you are pregnant and if you are considering becoming pregnant, you need to give yourself time to detox after the removal of the amalgams before becoming pregnant.  A dentist qualified in these procedures will be able to advise you on this.

I can’t begin to explain the difference the silver fillings removal has made to my life.  I remember so clearly about 3 weeks after having the final removal procedure; I was studying Nutritional Medicine at the time and sitting in a large lecture theatre.  I remember what sounded and felt like a gentle but audible crack inside my head and all of a sudden, everything in my world became brighter.  From that point it was like a massive cloud had been lifted from my head and I could see everything so clearly.  From there, all my symptoms started to fade – my memory improved dramatically, I lost my ticks and numbness, I could string a sentence together again, the brain fog vanished and I began to feel the way I should have been feeling all along – absolutely amazing!

And does my story have a happy ending?  Well, after the assessment disclosed the toxic waste dump that was my body,  my highly experienced and technologically appropriately equipped dentist safely removed the fillings (it’s a very tricky and specialised procedure that can easily cause further poisoning and health issues if not done by an experienced practitioner).  She put me on a detox program involving supplements, specific foods and baths and 6 months later I was pregnant with the most precious thing in my life – my daughter, who happened, thank goodness to turn out just perfectly!

There are a few issues I haven’t gone into detail on in the post for the sake of brevity (a bit late for that sorry!) including the toxic burden that dental amalgam waste places on our environment, the effects of mercury toxicity on the dental profession itself and the fact that in order for silver fillings to stay in place (because it is not adhesive), healthy tooth must also be drilled away to create a usable cavity to pack the amalgam into leading to weakness and stress in the existing tooth which in turn often leads to crowns or the tooth eventually needing to be extracted anyway.  Please do your own research on these issues if you feel inclined.  There’s plenty of information out there.

It’s a major commitment, it’s inconvenient and it’s never inexpensive but if you have silver fillings in your mouth…..please get them out!

Below are a couple of data bases where you can find a dentist trained in safe mercury removal protocols in your area:

https://dentalwellness4u.hostasaurus.com/freeservices/find_dentists.html http://iaomt.org/

http://iabdm.org/directory_listings/