Dental Care: Silver Fillings Are 50% Mercury

Did you know that the silver colored fillings in your mouth are actually composed of 50% MERCURY, a known neurotoxin? This information should be posted at your dentist office and currently is not. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown wants to change that and is the sponsor of Bill No. 040904 which ensures that patients are given the opportunity to know the effects of mercury fillings and the alternatives that are available.

On November 1st, The Philadelphia City Council will be voting on Bill No. 040904 which would require dentists to provide a fact sheet that explains the toxic effects of mercury fillings and the alternative dental procedures that are available to patients who choose not to use mercury fillings. Because you should have the right to know.

"Everyone must do their part to eliminate mercury from Philadelphia," said Sean Jacobs, Pennsylvania ZERO Mercury Campaign Director at Clean Air Council. "Dental patients can help this cause by simply requesting mercury-free alternative fillings -- but they have to know their options first. Clean Air Council and its 7,000 members are calling on Philadelphia City Council to vote YES on Bill No. 040904. It's time to stop putting mercury into the mouths of our citizens. It's time for action."

Mercury, the second most toxic non-radioactive element on the face of this earth is being eliminated or limited by government agencies from all products, including thermometers, vaccines, contact eye solution, car switches, medical devices such as blood pressure machines, florescent light bulbs, coal refinery emissions, and consumption of fish, yet the American Dental Association and the Pennsylvania Dental Association maintain that it is safe in dental fillings placed directly into the body.

The good news is, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's bill tells the truth. Freya Koss, who heads up the Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry believes that, "it may be inconvenient for some dentists to tell their patients, that amalgam fillings are 50% mercury. But pregnant women, for example, who may be avoiding fish because it has mercury, have a right to know that she and her baby are being exposed to mercury at the dentist's office as well."