Silver fillings: The FDA denies 3 petitions seeking to ban dental amalgams
A while ago, we ran a short series on the 2010 Amalgam Debate between the FDA and various independent consultants, including the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT).
While the tone of the summary published sounded like the FDA will reconsider its position on dental amalgams and mercury-released, the opposite has happened. Early this year, the agency has denied the petitions by the IAOMT, Moms Against Mercury and Citizens For Health to ban mercury fillings, despite some studies linking it to kidney damage and neurological disabilities. Instead, the agency again stood by its unseen political directors, who in turn harken to the third-biggest-spending health professionals’ lobby, the strongly pro-amalgam American Dental Association. The association, in turn, answers to the estimated 30% of practicing dentists who still use amalgam because it is cheaper and easier than safer substitutes and who reasonably fear liability lawsuits from amalgam’s ill effects.
We appreciate the fact that holistic health practitioners have always had a greater burden of proof to show the opposite of conventional “wisdom”, and we have strived to portray the facts accurately. More often than not however, this has been pooh-poohed away. In both letters, the agency came close to admitting that its denials were based not on science but on a lack of it. There is “very limited to no clinical information available regarding long-term health outcomes in pregnant women and their developing fetuses, and children under the age of six, including infants who are breastfed,” wrote associate commissioner for policy Leslie Kux. He added that “the burden of proving safety is on FDA, but FDA ignores this principal and places the burden on us to conclusively prove these fillings are causing diseases. FDA presumes that these fillings are safe—even for fetuses—while admitting that it has no data demonstrating safety.”
This does not stop us believing that amalgam fillings in one’s mouth releases enough mercury to cause problems over the long-term. If you are concerned about your amalgam fillings, speak to us as we are happy to share our two-cents worth.