Majority of dentists (52%)
are now mercury-free!
Tipping point at hand!
The tipping point against mercury fillings, my friends, has arrived. A dentist magazine surveyed its dentist readers, and finds that 52% of American dentists now are mercury-free.
WOW!This new dentist majority brings colossal ramifications upon America's protectors of mercury fillings-the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Food and Drug Administration.
I wrote the head of the ADA to inform him that the ADA has missed the boat by not exiting the mercury fillings business last year. (I even went to Chicago in December to hand them a graceful exit plan). Choosing instead to stay mired in the 19th century, ADA's pro-mercury members are likely to be picked off via lawsuits, one by one.
The ADA, I advised Dr. Bramson, will morph into a numerical shadow of itself, as its members wake up to the fact that this rallying around mercury has been a sham: see my letter to Dr. Bramson of May 14, 2007. With this new evidence, if the ADA refuses to warn its dwindling band of pro-mercury dentists to abandon mercury, the ADA likewise will be sitting in the litigation dock.
Our legal team--Bob Reeves, Sandy Duffy, Kele Onyejekwe and I--was on the brink of filing the re-match lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, (Moms Against Mercury v. FDA II). But FDA lawyers agreed at the 11th hour to a meeting. On May 10, they assembled a number of top officials, and I brought the nation's #1 food and drug lawyer on the consumer's side, Jim Turner. We had what diplomats describe as a "frank" session.
By letter afterwards, I asked FDA to meet with IAOMT's (International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology) Science Advisory Board (see the Consumers for Dental Choice website, third item); IAOMT's liaison, Dr. Rich Fischer, is following through.
As the summer opens, we begin a short, intense period where FDA will decide whether to abandon its policy protecting mercury fillings and comply with the law, adhere to the science, and apply plain common sense (the precautionary principle of health care), or continue its position that the health of children and pregnant women rank below professional courtesy to the dental establishment. My fellow lawyers join me in assuring you our powder is dry.
The press corps that cover FDA are closely following our battle; see this summary of the April 2007 courtcase against the FDA, and the response by lawmakers for Congressional hearings.
For your community (regardless of whether it has reached the magic 51% threshold), this development is huge. Regardless of whether you are a health professional or a consumer, please call in to talk shows; write a letter to the editor; write a letter to your state and federal lawmakers and your state dental board, with a message like this:
A majority of dentists are now mercury-free! Why are the old-fashioned dentists sticking with this primitive 19th-century device in the 21st century? It's time to stop using mercury in dentistry.
Charles G. Brown, National Counsel
Consumers for Dental Choice
1725 K St., N.W., Suite 511
Washington DC 20006
Ph. 202.822-6307; fax 822-6309
This is great news for those concerned about optimum health. However, just because a dentist no longer places mercury fillings does not mean that they take them out using the highest safety protocol. As soon as the drill hits the filling, the mercury vapor starts pouring out of the tooth. It is very important that you are protected from swallowing and breathing this very dangerous (and invisible) neural toxin (damaging to nerve tissue).
