Amalgam Removal Safety Precautions
Many people are deciding they want to have their silver amalgam (mercury) fillings removed, but this can cause a tremendous amount of mercury to be absorbed by their body and make them ill. To help prevent this, safety precautions should be used so the person won't swallow or breathe mercury vapor while the fillings are being drilled out.
Mercury vaporizes at room temperature. As soon as the dentist touches the filling with a drill, the temperature soars and the mercury vapor comes pouring off the fillings. Then when you take a breath it goes right into your lungs. To prevent this from happening, we take the following safety precautions:
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• Safety glasses are put over your eyes
to protect them from settling mercury particles and vapor. |
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• We have you breathe pure bottled oxygen through a nasal
cannula (tube). This will minimize your breathing the air right
around your face, which is full of mercury vapor. Your nose will
be covered with a dental mask to help keep the mercury vapor from
going into your nostrils. |
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| • A rubber dam will be placed over your mouth. This is a sheet of rubber that helps keep the mercury from going down your throat. | |
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• Copious amounts of cold water will be constantly squirted
on the filling as it's being drilled out, to keep the temperature
down.
• A Clean-up device will be used when necessary. The Clean-up fits over the tooth and is attached to the suction, so it pulls all particles away from the tooth as the filling is being drilled out. |
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• A high-volume air evacuator
is placed directly in front of your face while the filling is being
drilled out. This pulls all the air-borne particles away from your
face, to prevent you from breathing/swallowing them. |
• Powdered charcoal and chlorella
are placed in your mouth under the rubber dam. Both these substances
have the ability to absorb mercury particles before they get absorbed
into your system. |
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• The fillings will be taken
out with as little drilling as possible, in as large chunks as possible,
to minimize the amount of mercury vapor released into the air. |
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• The dental staff protects
themselves by wearing industrial grade gas masks while the mercury
is being drilled out. They know that the air around them is full
of mercury vapor which could be a liability to both their bodies
and to yours. |
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• Dr. Behm uses 4x magnifiers
to see minute details in the tooth. This could include faint cracks
and leaking crowns or fillings. He can also make sure that the new
crown or filling fits perfectly. Trying to do this without magnification
makes it harder to get perfect results. Problems areas in the gums
are more visible under magnification than with the naked eye. |
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• The treatment room has a powerful air cleaning system, the Environmental Care System, from American Environmental Systems. This industrial sized unit electrostatically removes and collects airborne heavy metal particles and contaminants without the use of fans or filters. It is similar to but much more powerful than an Alpine air ionizer. This Negative Ion Generator produces negative air ions which transfer their negative charges to airborne contaminants. The system’s Positive Field Collectors then electrostatically attract and retain the negatively charged contaminants by means of a positive electric field. It removes airborne particles from less than 0.01 micron to over
250 micron in diameter. This includes contaminants such
as bacteria and spores, such as E. Coli, Listeria monocytogenes,
Bacillus thuringensis and Staphylococcus aureus. Other particles
such as pollens, dust, smoke, hydrocarbons and vapors of heavy
metals are also effected by the Environmental Care System. Ray G Behm Jr., DDS • Natural Dentistry |
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