Mercury Removal
There is nothing more important in our office than to protect our patients during the removal process of mercury amalgam fillings. The controversy surrounding the safety of this metal has been under scrutiny for over 150 years. What we do know is that mercury is toxic and that mercury vapor does escape from amalgams.
With the availability of other dental materials such as tooth colored composite fillings, gold alloys and porcelains, why take a chance using a material that could be hazardous to our health?
During the mercury removal process, we follow a specific dental protocol to ensure your safety from unnecessary exposures to this heavy metal. Several precautions are taken including: a nose mask for breathing oxygen, a dental air-vacuum system designed to absorb any mercury aerosols circulating within the dental operatories, high speed suction, copious amounts of water, a rubber dam and/or clean-up device for isolation purposes, slow speed drilling to reduce mercury vapors and to avoid unnecessary friction or heat developing within the tooth that can lead to a pulpitis or permanent nerve damage to your teeth.
Appointments scheduled for mercury removal will follow the 7 day immune cycle. It seems that our body's defense mechanisms are sensitive to a 7 day cycle in which our immune system becomes depressed. Therefore, if your amalgam fillings were removed on a Monday, your next scheduled date for additional removals will be on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday but not on another Monday for the next month or two.
If you're contemplating the removal of your amalgams, it is best to remove the mercury as quickly as possible. With a fast removal process, patients seem to respond and recover from this procedure much faster both physically and mentally.