Mercury pollution is growing across the globe.

In the words of Charlie Brown, President of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, “Amalgam is a “primitive, polluting, 19th century product that began when physicians were sawing off legs. Medicine has since moved forward.”

Consider these disturbing facts:

• Amalgam is the MOST EXPENSIVE dental material when you count environmental costs and clean-up costs.
• Amalgam is the number one cause of mercury exposure for consumers, according to the Canadian government and other sources.
• Mercury from dental offices is the largest source of mercury in wastewater. At least 40 percent of mercury flowing into municipal water treatment plants begins in dentist offices. And those plants are not set up to remove it, so it ends up in your fish.
• Amalgams of the dead post a risk to the living. Emissions from the combustion of mercury fillings during cremation are a significant contaminator of air, waterways, soil, wildlife and food. It is estimated that, left unchecked, crematoria will be the largest single cause of mercury pollution by 2020.

In Sweden, it is mandatory that teeth be extracted prior to cremation.

According to Charlie Brown, the FDA is far behind the rest of the world in stepping up to the plate to reduce mercury. The FDA has been standing in the way of banning these dangerous dental materials since 1976.

• Canada advised dentists to stop placing amalgam in children and pregnant women in 1996!
• Denmark, Norway and Sweden have essentially banned amalgams.
• There are 5,636 hospitals in developing countries that are committed to or already mercury-free. The majority of these are in the Philippines, India, and Argentina.

Check what your dentist is planning to use. And if it is a mercury amalgam, Refuse. Also, it’s  wise to have existing amalgam fillings removed, but by a qualified dentist, for the procedure is delicate and can be potentially risky.