by Tom McGuire, DDS http://www.dentalwellness4u.com/

 The majority of people I’ve consulted with do not understand just how devastating chronic mercury poisoning is to their health. Without this awareness it is difficult to fully appreciate the need for, and value of, participating in a mercury detoxification program that supports the body’s efforts to remove the accumulated mercury and heal the damage done by it.

I've also found that most people think that it is enough just to have their mercury amalgam (silver) fillings removed and, once they do, the problems they equate to mercury exposure from these fillings will quickly go away. When the mercury related symptoms don’t improve in a short period of time they often get frustrated and think that their amalgam fillings didn’t cause or contribute to their health issues. I believe that if they were educated about the destructive effects of chronic mercury poisoning more people would not only commit to having their fillings removed but also stimulate participation in a mercury detoxification program. 

The first place to start this education is to realize just how toxic mercury is to the body, including how it does its damage and why it must be dealt with in a unique way. I believe that in order to effectively treat chronic mercury poisoning and appreciate the need for removing the accumulated mercury from your body, it’s critically important to see the big picture. This means you must:

• know the source of the toxin/poison*;
• safely eliminate the source*;
• understand how the poison works
• be aware of the damage it does to the body;  
• understand how mercury detoxification works; and
• find the right program to participate in.

 *Mercury amalgam (silver) fillings are the main source of mercury exposure and nearly 200 million people in the USA alone have them. These fillings continuously release mercury as a toxic vapor and as much as 80% of the vapor enters the body. It is fat soluble and can enter every cell of the body and is particularly harmful to the brain. Thus, the chronic mercury poisoning that I’m writing about is the result of mercury exposure from amalgam fillings. But keep in mind that mercury is mercury and regardless of the source or form, it is a powerful poison. The safest way to remove the source is to find a mercury free dentist and my website, www.dentalwellness4u.com has the largest mercury free dentist listing in the world.

 No matter what you have heard from a pro-amalgam dentist, or from the American Dental Association (ADA), mercury is released from amalgam fillings and this means they can never be considered ‘safe’ nor ‘harmless’. To ever suggest that any amount of mercury is safe, or harmless, is inaccurate, misleading, and hazardous to the health of those who believe what these organizations are telling them. There are many factors that determine how much is released and ultimately accumulates in the body, and if that subject is of interest to you the information can be found in my book Mercury Detoxification: The Natural Way to Remove Mercury from Your Body.

In the second part of this article I’ll briefly introduce what I consider to be the most important elements of a mercury detoxification program. All the information you will need to fully understand the process of mercury detoxification is available in my book and it will be your A to Z guide to it.

What You Need to Know about Mercury: There is NO Safe Level of Mercury

Mercury is the most poisonous naturally occurring, non-radioactive, substance on our planet. It is more toxic than any of the other heavy metals, including arsenic, lead and cadmium. According to the World Health Organization, there is no safe level of mercury! It doesn’t matter what the source of mercury is, the body has no biological need for it and even one atom of mercury will harm it!   

Mercury can damage cells in many ways. If, over time, more mercury enters the body than it can remove it will begin to accumulate throughout the body. At some point, if the source of mercury isn’t eliminated, enough will build up to manifest a symptom, or symptoms, of chronic mercury poisoning. But make no mistake about it, the damage done to your body is taking place even if you are not aware of it or you haven’t yet experienced a mercury related symptom!  

  For many people it could take years for enough cells of the body to accumulate enough mercury to cause a symptom specifically related to chronic mercury poisoning. For example, let’s say that it took an accumulation of 25 micrograms (mcg) of mercury before a related symptom is experienced. Does that mean the first 24 mcg of stored mercury were harmless and did no damage? Does that mean that it was only the last microgram of mercury that caused the damage that resulted in a symptom? The answer is an emphatic NO to both questions!

There may be other ways to explain this, but I think my modified parable of how the straw broke the camel’s back will be the most effective (just think of a straw as a small amount of mercury).

“The farmer loaded bale after bale of straw on his camel’s back. It was a slow process and the camel did its best to hold the ever increasing weight of the straw in the bales. Finally the farmer felt he added as much straw as the camel could carry. But then he saw a single straw still laying on the ground. “Why not he said, my camel is strong enough to carry just one extra piece of straw!” But when he added the last straw, it broke his camel’s back.” I think you get the point.

Over time, if the source of mercury isn’t removed, the majority of people exposed to mercury from amalgam fillings will have to deal with the “last straw”. The key to understanding everything I will discuss in this section hinges on you being aware that there is no safe level of mercury and it can never be considered safe. 

Think about this for a moment. If I asked you if I could give you a little bit of arsenic throughout the day, every day, would you agree to it? Of course not, everyone knows that arsenic is a poison and can kill! In fact adding a little arsenic to your food or drink would actually be against the law because you cannot give someone a known poison without their knowledge. Yet mercury is far more poisonous than arsenic—now that is something to chew on!

Acute and Chronic Mercury Poisoning: The Facts

Although any amount of mercury in the general body or brain can alter the function of, or damage everything to which it attaches, exposure to mercury is always classified as either acute or chronic. The extent of the harm done by mercury vapor is directly related to:

o        The amount of exposure;

o        The length of exposure;

o        How much has accumulated;

o        Where it’s located in the body;

o        How long it’s been there; and

o        The overall health of the immune/detoxification system.

Acute mercury poisoning is relatively rare and occurs when you are exposed to a sudden and very high dose of mercury, especially elemental or organic/methyl mercury. Acute mercury toxicity can result in immediate and severe symptoms, requiring emergency attention. Untreated it can quickly cause death due to kidney (renal) failure.

In contrast, chronic mercury poisoning (CMP) is very common, affecting all those with amalgam fillings—but is still largely unrecognized and under diagnosed. CMP results from the continuous exposure to small amounts of mercury over an extended period of time; such as the exposure to highly toxic mercury vapor from amalgam fillings. Given such conditions mercury can gradually accumulate in the body. While the effect of CMP isn’t as sudden or dramatic as acute mercury poisoning, over time it can be extremely damaging to one’s health. I compare CMP to radiation poisoning, where, if you’re far enough removed from the main source of radiation you won’t die right away. But depending on how much radiation you received, you could eventually manifest a radiation-related illness that could result in numerous health problems and possibly cause death.

Thus, chronic mercury poisoning may not be instantly fatal but, over time, could directly and indirectly contribute to numerous and undesirable symptoms and a serious and even fatal disease.

The Many Faces of Chronic Mercury Poisoning

Mercury is toxic in extremely small amounts, it can accumulate in the body over time, and contribute to or make worse every health problem. Mercury can:

·         Attach to proteins and enzymes and interfere with their normal function .

·         Create autoimmune diseases and impair the blood and cardiovascular system.

·         Interfere with, or overload, the natural detoxification pathways of the liver, kidneys, skin, and bowel.

·         Impair the function of the nervous, endocrine, immune, enzymatic, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and urinary systems.

·         Increase allergic reactions.

·         Cause harmful intestinal bacteria, including Candida, to become immune to antibiotics.

·         Dramatically deplete the body of its most important antioxidants.

Mercury can also cause a great deal of cellular and tissue damage by creating tremendous amounts of free radicals. Free radicals are highly toxic to cells and are suspected of being one of the underlying causes of all degenerative diseases.

We also know that mercury can interfere with disease fighting white blood cells and can inactivate neutrophils, the most important type of white blood cell. White blood cells are very important immune system components and are responsible for killing bacteria inside the body (blood and soft tissue).

Where the Mercury Goes

If mercury (or any other heavy metal) enters the body and accumulates faster than the body can remove it, it will gradually build up until a toxic state is reached. If the exposure to mercury is in small daily amounts, such as you receive from amalgam fillings, it is classified as chronic, meaning it could take years before enough has accumulated to manifest a recognizable symptom. Because there are so many factors involved, the time it takes for early symptoms to appear will vary greatly from person to person.

 If you are to understand why mercury is such a powerful poison you must realize that it can readily enter every cell in the body and thus is widely distributed throughout the body. This is a bad news/good news situation. The bad news is that mercury enters the body. The good news is that the body is made up of trillions of cells and the mercury is, in effect, diluted by the fact that it is spread out throughout these cells. The fact that it is so widely dispersed throughout the body also accounts for the fact that there are so many diverse symptoms related to chronic mercury poisoning.

The effects of mercury released from amalgam fillings would be more dramatic and occur more rapidly if it only had an affinity for one organ, or one part of the brain. For example, if all the mercury entering the body only went to the kidney, it wouldn’t take long for an observable symptom related to kidney function to show up. 

How Much Mercury is Too Much Mercury!

Toxic levels of mercury are measured in micrograms and it is important to know just how small a microgram is.

As you can see, a microgram is extraordinarily small. But here is the scary part—just one microgram of mercury contains roughly 300,000,000,000,000 (that’s 300 trillion!) atoms of mercury. And every single atom that stays in your body is harmful to it!!!

Numbers, numbers, and more numbers! True, but you don’t have to be a mathematician to understand that extremely small amounts of mercury contain an extraordinary number of extremely toxic mercury atoms. The fact that it is so poisonous in such small amounts accounts for its extreme toxicity compared to other poisons.

The bad news is that it really doesn’t take a lot of exposure to generate, or contribute to, a mercury related symptom and as I mentioned earlier; just because you haven’t yet expressed a symptom doesn’t mean you aren’t being poisoned!

Sources of Mercury

There are many sources of mercury, including food, air, water, cosmetics, medications, and industrial occupations. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the single greatest source of mercury is mercury amalgam fillings. Here is what WHO lists as the main contributors and the estimated daily amount of mercury taken into the body.

The amounts are important but the key to understanding how mercury can accumulate over time is knowing that mercury entering the body on a daily basis from amalgam fillings.

Based on the WHO data, and the other available evidence, there are tens upon tens of millions of people who take in far more mercury than the body can eliminate on a daily basis. Consequently, millions of people are suffering from symptoms and diseases directly, or indirectly, related to chronic mercury poisoning.

What Makes Mercury so Toxic?

The membranes that surround the cells of the body are composed of fatty substances and it just so happens that elemental mercury vapor is highly fat-soluble. This characteristic allows it to readily pass through the cell membrane of cells of the general body, easily cross the blood brain barrier, and readily enter brain cells. Once inside any cell, mercury can attach to critically important enzymes, proteins, and other substances; disrupting the function of everything it bonds to.

Once it has attached to a cell component, the bond it forms is very strong and not easily broken. The body does have the ability to get rid of mercury, but as more and more mercury accumulates it becomes increasingly deficient in the vital antioxidant chelators needed to do this job. Over time, its ability to take out mercury is diminished. Unless the source of mercury is removed and the body is supported in its efforts to eliminate the accumulated mercury, the damage and related symptoms will only worsen. Initially mercury interferes with proper cellular function but at some point the cell will be exposed to more mercury than it can deal with and ultimately dies.

In addition, when mercury attaches to an enzyme or protein it displaces an essential mineral, mostly zinc and/or copper. This action also creates free radicals, which are believed to be a major factor in degenerative diseases.

The Direct and Indirect Health Effects of Chronic Mercury Poisoning

Most people, including dentists and health professionals, don’t know that chronic mercury poisoning can have a destructive effect on the body in two ways: directly and indirectly. Mercury has a direct and damaging effect on everything it comes in contact with, such as proteins, enzymes, DNA, and thousands of other important components of cells. It disrupts the body’s ability to carry out the normal metabolic functions required for health, can cause genetic mutations, and is devastating for the fetus, nursing baby (if the mother has amalgam fillings in her teeth while pregnant and nursing), and developing child. But the harm mercury inflicts doesn’t stop there, because the indirect effects of mercury on your health can be just as serious. This makes mercury a very dangerous two-edged sword.

The Indirect Effect of Mercury

One of the most damaging indirect effects of mercury is the toll it takes on the immune system. Over time, chronic mercury poisoning can so severely weaken the immune system that it dramatically lowers the body’s resistance to other diseases. It does this because the body’s most prolific and important antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), is also the one that is primarily responsible for removing mercury from the body. In addition, GSH is an extremely important antioxidant for removing other heavy metals, toxins, and neutralizing free radicals.

Every time the body removes an atom of mercury two molecules of GSH are also removed in the process . . . lost forever! Over time, as glutathione levels continue to decrease, more and more mercury will be able to accumulate. As the loss of GSH continues, the body will progressively lose its ability to deal with other harmful substances that glutathione helps protect it from.

I consider the indirect effect of chronic mercury poisoning on the body as being similar to the effects of AIDS. The AIDS virus doesn’t kill directly but it can so weaken the immune system that it no longer has the ability to protect the body against other toxins, bacteria, and other harmful substances. Thus people with AIDS don’t die of AIDS, they die of pneumonia, kidney failure, etc. But the fact that AIDS isn’t the direct cause of death does not make it less lethal. In chronic amounts, mercury may not be as initially devastating, but the analogy is accurate in that, over time, mercury can generate auto immune diseases and dramatically inhibit the function of the immune system.

The fact is that the wide-ranging direct and indirect effects of mercury should never be overlooked, or underestimated, when dealing with any health issue! It’s fair to say that you’ll never be truly healthy as long as you have mercury amalgam fillings and mercury is still stored in your body.

Summing it Up

No one can tell you exactly how much mercury you have stored in your body, where it is located, or the specific damage it is doing. But if you have, or had, amalgam fillings you are mercury toxic to some degree and it could very well be a contributing factor to every symptom or health problem you are facing. 

It’s important to understand that it’s not enough just to eliminate the main source of mercury exposure—amalgam fillings—because you can never achieve optimal health as long as your body is being poisoned by mercury that has already accumulated. No mercury related symptom or disease will improve until the stored mercury is removed. Thus, while removing the source is a critical first step, it isn’t the only one that must be taken.

It is my hope that this brief overview of chronic mercury poisoning will motivate you to at least consider participating in a mercury detoxification program. Space does not allow me to detail my mercury detoxification program but my book is designed to guide you through every step of removing mercury from your body.

Is a Mercury Detoxification Program for You?

When considering a mercury detoxification program a number of factors should be considered. They are:

·         Have you been exposed to mercury?

·         The duration and extent of that exposure.

·         The results of definitive mercury testing.

·         Number and extent of symptoms and diseases related to chronic mercury poisoning.

I believe everyone who still has mercury amalgam (silver) fillings, and those who have had them removed, are mercury toxic and should seriously consider a mercury detoxification program. Because those who still have these fillings are being constantly exposed to mercury vapor, it is even more important that they begin a program as soon as possible.

There are two tests for mercury that I believe will tell you if you are mercury toxic and the extent of the toxicity. These are the fecal metals test and the urine mercury challenge (or provoked) test. Both, along with other common tests for mercury, are explained in detail in my book. While I believe testing has a value it isn’t necessary if you fit the other criteria for mercury poisoning. But the fecal metals test can also be beneficial in helping to monitor your program.

I also feel that an evaluation of your current health issues is a good indicator of a need for a mercury detoxification program. For example, if you have or had amalgam fillings and find you have a number of related symptoms or diseases you should seriously consider a program. The following section will serve to explain the importance of symptom diagnosis.

Symptoms & Diseases Related to Chronic Mercury Poisoning

Most people with mercury amalgam fillings aren’t aware of the extraordinary number of symptoms that are directly and indirectly related to chronic mercury poisoning. Because mercury can be stored in virtually every cell of the body the number of symptoms related to it are considerable. In my opinion, mercury can directly or indirectly cause, contribute to, or make worse every health issue we know of.

Of course, most of these symptoms can also have other causes and contributors. But we do know that every one of them can be caused by chronic mercury poisoning! This isn’t speculation as there are thousands of studies to support what can happen when exposure mercury passes the threshold level.

Also keep in mind that the level of exposure can vary from person to person. For example, if 10 people were in an environment where the threshold level for mercury vapor was reached, not all would necessarily exhibit the earliest symptoms of mercury poisoning. While there are other sources of mercury exposure than amalgam fillings, the amount of mercury in the body has been shown to be proportional to the number of these fillings in the mouth.

The list of symptoms and diseases related to chronic mercury poisoning is long, especially when the symptoms related to the indirect of mercury are included. But because the length of this article doesn’t allow for them to be listed you can access them on my website, or from my book.

The number and severity of symptoms of mercury poisoning will be determined by your state of health (especially the status of your immune system), how much mercury you’ve been exposed to over time, and the amount that has accumulated in your body. Understanding the full effect and depth of chronic mercury poisoning should also serve to motivate you to consider a mercury detoxification program.

 Symptom Improvement

A number of studies have been done that show the improvements in symptoms and diseases related to chronic mercury poisoning when amalgam fillings have been removed and when a detoxification program was included. This is encouraging news and demonstrates that the body can respond once the source of the poison has been removed and the body is supported in its efforts at removing mercury. These studies can be found in my book and my website and I encourage you to review them.

The Confusion about Mercury Detoxification

While there’s a consensus within the mercury free dental community about the need to safely remove mercury amalgam fillings, there’s considerably less agreement about the most effective and safest way to go about eliminating mercury from the body. In fact, many mercury free dentists and health professionals who believe in the need and value of mercury detoxification have differing recommendations.

Some recommend extremely low dosages of supplements, and others recommend dosages that may be too high for many people. This can result in confusion for the layperson, especially when the fundamentals of mercury detoxification haven’t been adequately explained and understood. And, if you don’t have the basic background information you won’t be able to make an informed choice about whether or not to participate in a detoxification program. Without the ability to make an informed choice you will continue to be a victim.

Taking the Confusion out of Mercury Detoxification

I will briefly discuss the key elements of the innovative and natural approach I take to mercury detoxification. This philosophy is the key to the safety and success of my program.

A Natural Approach

My program approaches mercury detoxification in the safest and most natural way possible. This insures that any possible undesirable side-effects will be reduced or eliminated. The goal of my program is to support—and ultimately improve—your body’s own extraordinary ability to effectively remove mercury. Most people aren’t aware that the body has this ability, but if the exposure is too great it becomes less and less effective at removing it. Thus, unless it receives support from you it will not be able to remove the mercury or heal the damage done by it.

Once your body’s ability to remove mercury has been restored and your mercury levels have been significantly reduced, the program can continue to function as a health maintenance program. In other words, it’s designed to not only help you eliminate mercury in the most natural way possible, but to also obtain your optimal state of health and then keep you healthy.

While the fundamental approach I take to mercury detoxification is the same for everyone, each person’s situation is unique and should be dealt with accordingly. For example, your present state of health, nutritional status, health of your immune system, the extent and length of your mercury exposure, and your body’s ability to eliminate mercury, must all be taken into consideration. The sum of these factors will determine how long you should participate in the program and the benefits you will receive from it.

My approach to detoxification makes my program safe for virtually anyone who doesn’t have a serious, pre-existing health problem—such as severe liver and kidney problems, or chronic constipation—which would contraindicate or limit full participation without support from a health professional. Except for the possible use of a pharmaceutical chelator, everything in my program is either naturally produced by the body, required by the body (or must be obtained from outside sources, e.g. vitamin C), or is a health supporting nutrient. All the supplements and nutrients used in my program are sold over-the-counter at health food stores and by most vitamin companies. None requires a prescription.

Minimizing Undesirable Side-Effects

Another key element of my philosophy regarding mercury detoxification is that I don’t believe you need to get sick while trying to get well. Because some people detoxify rapidly—even too quickly in some cases—I believe that you should always start low and go slow*. Detoxifying too rapidly from mercury can be difficult and uncomfortable for some. In fact, some people have become ill during a detoxification process that was too aggressive because it stirred up more toxins than their bodies could effectively eliminate.

I believe this accelerated approach should be avoided. The safe and gentle approach that I promote is even more important for those:

·         Who are very mercury toxic;

·         Whose immune system has been severely compromised; and

·         Who may have difficulty with rapid detoxification.

In addition, some nutritional supplements work fine for some people, but may produce unwanted dose-related side-effects in others. My program provides a sound foundation that can be built on or even reduced, as the case may be. It is also designed to let you become more involved in what, and how much, you should take. After all it’s your body, and your body will quickly tell you how well it can handle what you are putting in it; regardless of what I or anyone else tells you should or shouldn’t happen. So it is important that you learn how to listen to your own body. I also encourage you to work with a qualified health professional, especially if you have multiple symptoms and serious health issues that could be related to chronic mercury poisoning.

*There is an exception to the start low and go slow philosophy and that is if there is an acute exposure to mercury. In that case your health care practitioner will implement more immediate and stronger measures.

Tolerance Testing

I also emphasize tolerance testing to help prevent or minimize side-effects. The two most commonly seen side-effects of taking high doses of supplements and other nutrients are allergic and dose-related reactions. Most of what is included in my program is made or needed by the body and therefore shouldn’t cause allergic reactions. But dose-related reactions, even with natural substances the body needs, can occur if the dosage is excessive (the old adage of ‘taking too much of a good thing’ applies here). To ensure this doesn’t occur I include a tolerance testing formula that starts you off with small doses of a supplement and then lets you gradually increase it until the recommended, or tolerated, levels are reached.

Intestinal support

The intestine, small and large, plays an important and complex role in health and in detoxification. When the body releases mercury into the intestine it may then be “technically” out of the body but once there it still has to travel through 26 feet of intestine before it is “officially” removed from it. During those 26 feet a lot of things can happen to the mercury released into it and, unless the intestine is properly supported, all the mercury that enters it may not ‘get out’!

Under certain conditions mercury can be re-absorbed into the body and a serious effort should be made to prevent this from happening. Thus, providing support to the intestine is another important element of my program.

Brain Support

We all know mercury is a powerful poison, but it is scientifically classified as a neurotoxin. A neurotoxin is a toxic agent or substance that inhibits, damages or destroys the tissues of the brain and central nervous system. Because many of the symptoms related to chronic mercury poisoning are neurological, I believe that supporting brain health can substantially improve the success of a mercury detoxification program. It’s so important that I’ve devoted a special section to it in the book and it is a must read for anyone with any neurological symptoms related to mercury poisoning. It should be noted that the neurological effects aren’t just physical in nature. Chronic mercury poisoning can result in numerous emotional and psychological symptoms, such as depression, memory loss, and irritability . . . to name just a few.

Monitoring Your Mercury Detoxification Program

Monitoring your mercury detoxification program, both objectively and subjectively, can be very helpful in assessing your progress, both for you and if you’re working with a supporting health professional. I consider monitoring to be an essential component of a mercury detoxification program and discuss it in detail in the book.

Supplement Schedule Charts

Based on my experience, extensive research of the principles of detoxification, and my evaluation of many mercury detoxification programs, I believe that many are not successful because the participant fails to fully comply with the program. There are a number of reasons for this lack of compliance, including not being motivated. But one of the main reasons is the difficulty in keeping track of which supplements to take, and when to take them. I’ve created special charts and forms that make keeping track of my program a simple process.

A Summary

My book, Mercury Detoxification: The Natural Way to Remove Mercury from Your Body will show you how to support your body’s efforts at removing mercury in the safest, most effective, and most natural way possible. If this is your first experience with a mercury detoxification program this book will be an invaluable guide to this important health building process. It will also be beneficial if a previous attempt at detoxifying mercury did not achieve the desired results, or you’re now participating in another detoxification program and need more information than you’ve been provided.

When it comes to eliminating mercury from the body, the more you know about the detoxification process, the better off you’ll be.

Thus, Mercury Detoxification will explain:

Mercury Detoxification will logically provide you with the essential information you will need and in a language you can easily understand. I’ve made every effort to simplify and de-mystify this subject and I also provide an extensive reference section if you want to review the science that supports my program.

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