Toxic teeth. (Advice and dissent: letters from our readers).Thanks for your article "Heavy Metal Harm" (cover story, May/June 2002) on mercury. We are being subtly poisoned in this culture. No one else is putting it on the front cover. I discovered mercury as the major factor wrecking my health in 1998. Linda Cifelli, Williamsburg, VA Wow! Thanks for the 26 powerful words on the front cover of your May/June 2002 issue. I discovered five years ago that I had mercury poisoning mercury poisoning, tissue damage resulting from exposure to more than trace amounts of the element mercury or its compounds. Elemental mercury (the silver liquid familiar from thermometers) is the most common occupational source. because of my silver/amalgam fillings. I had the right to know that my family dentist dentist /den·tist/ (den´tist) a person with a degree in dentistry and authorized to practice dentistry. den·tist n. A person who is trained and licensed to practice dentistry. was putting the toxic element in my mouth. But he did not tell me or inform me of the risks. Mary Ann Newell, Vancouver, WA Kudos for covering the extensive mercury crisis. Having done research for years on its deadly effects, I, too, feel that what we now acknowledge is just the "tip of the iceberg tip of the iceberg n. pl. tips of the iceberg A small evident part or aspect of something largely hidden: afraid that these few reported cases of the disease might only be the tip of the iceberg. ." After suffering for more than eight years, my mother, Dr. Naomi Miller Coval, a well-known and pioneering woman dentist, died of mercury poisoning. When her memory began to fail, her family thought it was old age or perhaps early symptoms of Alzheimer's, which can only be confirmed with postmortem postmortem /post·mor·tem/ (post-mort´im) performed or occurring after death. post·mor·tem adj. Relating to or occurring during the period after death. n. See autopsy. tests. I urged her to have mercury tests done, and the results confirmed extensive amounts of the toxic metal toxic metal Environment Any metal known to be toxic to humans–eg, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel. Cf Nontoxic metal. in her body. Long-term systemic mercury toxicity toxicity /tox·ic·i·ty/ (tok-sis´i-te) the quality of being poisonous, especially the degree of virulence of a toxic microbe or of a poison. killed her, not Alzheimer's. Regrettably, the symptoms for Alzheimer's and mercury toxicity are similar. While my mother urged all her patients with cavities to request gold foils or inlays, many of them could not afford it. So she frequently mixed amalgam fillings using mercury. Like your publisher, I remember the silvery sil·ver·y adj. 1. Containing or coated with silver. 2. Resembling silver in color or luster: "A fountain threw high its silvery water" Harriet Beecher Stowe. mercury balls moving in the dental trays. Generally, the dental profession did not know 40 years ago the deadly part that mercury played in "silver" fillings. Today, we know the havoc mercury can cause. Yet, most dentists refuse to change their views. Until dentists acknowledge the toxicity and long-term dangers of using mercury it is difficult to move forward. Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri, Portland, OR |
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