chelating with mercury still in mouth?

[lisasaurus]

Hi again Mamas,

I had an appointment with a holistic dentist to get my fillings replaced. My teeth are in really bad shape due to amalgam fillings, and I need all kinds of crowns and inlays. The left side of my mouth alone is estimated to cost upwards of $6000. This is without insurance. At least 2 teeth are showing signs of severe decay, which I believe because they are starting to hurt. I'm trying to come up with a game plan, and would appreciate some insight.

The dentist and my naturopath are in agreement that it is safe to undergo chelation therapy while mercury is still present in the mouth. They maintain that current research supports that chelators like DMSA do not encourage mercury to leach out of amalgams. So they are suggesting I undergo chelation while going through the process of replacing my fillings.

At this rate, my fillings won't be totally done for over a year. I just can't afford to do it all without insurance. If I get so lucky as to find a job with dental benefits (that aren't Kaiser, which is what I have thru my husbands job) sure I could get the work done faster. But more realistically, we will be using credit and paying what we can as we go.

In january of 2011 we will be able to switch insurance, at which time we could afford to do the remainder of the dental work.

What does everyone think of chelating while in the middle of a long term dental plan?

What does everyone think of putting it off, with the knowledge that I have high levels of mercury and lead in my system? It freaks me out, but probably waiting a year won't make a gigantic difference. Its certainly not ideal, but I have to be realistic. I can't put my family into a huge debt because I am anxious about getting all of this taken care of.

Anyway, I'd love some opinions here. Thanks for reading and letting me vent.

[tanyalynn]

I wouldn't use DMSA with amalgam still in my mouth. You'll find more answers, and maybe varied answers, at:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...tal-chelation/


This group (below) is very specifically Cutler-type oral chelation, and although I think it's the safest approach out there, the answers from the group still feel very regimented and by-the-book (Cutler's books).
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...ose-chelation/

If you're anywhere near Iowa, I know a really good HCP there if you want another opinion. She's gotten me through this, as far as I can tell based on reading others' experiences, easier and more comfortably than most.

There aren't a huge number of people chelating and talking about it here at MDC. I talk about it because I did find some helpful information here, on chelation and other topics, and I want to give back. But I only have my experience, which I'm overall happy with, but that's just one adult and two kids.

FWIW, I delayed almost a year between learning what was going on with my health and getting my amalgams out. My son was only 14 mos old when I learned, and I didn't want to wean him at that age.

I saw improvements in myself that were worthwhile for about 6 months worth of time (so some time was just lost). I took high dose vit/min supplements to help with depleted nutrition (that's part of how mercury and other metals mess with us, the lack of nutrients for our bodies to make the chemicals our brains need and do the chemical reactions our bodies should be doing), I did the vitamin C flushes I mentioned before, that got my vitamin C need down (reduced circulating toxins is what I mean, which I think was very helpful before my dental work, helped me deal with the additional stress of the removal better) and I worked on my diet.

No gluten or dairy really helped (gfcf helps adults too), I do well on a high-fat diet, so I ate tons of eggs (a high sulfur diet helps me, some people do better low sulfur, though, and it's worth exploring which one helps you), plus I ate a ton of fat (saturated). Weird to be eating a very high fat diet and losing weight, but yay, and it made me feel better. But be willing to experiment with what helps you--high fat is one typical pattern, but there are others. And I really tried to baby myself, rest my adrenals, eat snacks when I needed to, slowed down overall, lowered expectations. My adrenal symptoms got better during this time, and that's also helpful before getting the amalgams out and chelating.

More discussion of high sulfur/low sulfur here:
http://livingnetwork.co.za/chelation...hur-food-list/

Anyway, there are things you can do to feel better and get healthier before you get your amalgams out. For me, getting my amalgams out was vital, absolutely critical, but I saw improvements and improved my resilience (some, not miracles) in that waiting time.

Best of luck to you. Check out the yahoo groups, they've got a lot more people with different experiences.