Dentist put in amalgam fillings into my 9 year old without my consent -- what do I do?

[Pookietooth]

I am very upset. My nine year old has ongoing dental issues. We moved her about a year ago, and I put off finding a new dentist because I knew it was going to be hard. I finally had to find one because ds was complaining of a toothache. Took him to the practice mostly based on the fact that they were open on Fridays, (it being a Friday), but also based on many good reviews. The dentist said he needed multiple fillings (including 2 pulpotomies) and an extraction, even though it had been less than a year since his last dental visit. He has had a lot of cavities, so I decided that they were probably right. The slip I was given stated on it that it would be only composite (non-mercury) fillings in his baby teeth, along with sealants in his permanent teeth. I went ahead and scheduled him, and he had two visits (different dentist in the same practice). After the second one, I noticed that one of his fillings was shiny, and upon examination saw that it was silver. I then called the dentist and found out they had filled two permanent teeth and two baby teeth, all with amalgam fillings! Even the tooth with the pulpotomy and crown had an amalgam filling under the crown! Ack!

Removing these fillings is going to be prohibitively expensive. 

Do you think its possible to sue the dentist, based on the statement on the plan I was given that the fillings would be composite? We don't have a lot of money, and I have never sued anyone. Should I just chalk it up as lesson learned, and never go to a dentist unless it's one that says they never use amalgam fillings?

[MeepyCat]

I'd take the release form to a lawyer and start with a stiff letter requesting the dentist to replace the amalgam fillings at his own expense, since you were told the fillings would be non-amalgam and they aren't.  It doesn't seem like this should be something you actually have to file a suit for, it seems like the threat should be enough.

[Alenushka]

To win a  medical type lawsuit you have to proove harm.

So, unless you have money for an expert...and even then.

I had full moulth of amalgam fillings and nothing happened to me and countless others.

Do you have dental insurance? It is possibale that the dentist had to  substitute because of what insurance would authorize.

[MeepyCat]

To win a malpractice lawsuit, you have to prove harm.

You can still take the health care provider to court for failing to keep to the agreed-upon terms of the contract for services.  He said that he would provide non-amalgam fillings.  He gave you paperwork to that effect.  Seriously - talk to a lawyer. 

[DAMS Office]

Dear Rightfully Upset Mother,

         Unfortunately, many dentists in the US still practice under the illusion that "silver amalgams," which are actually about half mercury, are OK to use, even in children. That is a result of their classroom education that teaches them that the toxins used in dentist - and mercury is just one of many - are not a problem. The American media have not pounced on this issue of an unnecessary and very unwise exposure to mercury and our FDA, corrupt as it so often is, has so far joined in the cover-up of the hazards of mercury amalgams and has OKed them without so much as requiring a warning or caution in using them for pregnant women or children. So it is, indeed, buyer beware!

        But, here's the deal: if you take your son back to the same dentist who put the amalgams in in the first place, and if you manage to convince that dentist to replace your son's dental amalgam fillings, something very bad is likely to happen: a much more severe mercury exposure due to unsafe amalgam removal by this very conventional-minded dentist. Such dentists as him are not trained and equipped to replace amalgams safely and are likely to produce a mess of fine amalgam particles (remember, half mercury) and mercury vapor for your son to inhale and swallow during the unsafe amalgam removal. The result would quite possibly be a giant step backwards for your son's immune system, his brain health, her behavior and school performance, and his hormonal functions. Soon, the school may be suggesting drugs for depression, ADHD or other issues, but getting your son on the drug treadmill is not the real answer to dental mercury poisoning.. 

        So, don't fall into the trap of unsafe amalgam removal, whatever else you do. Since the clinic violated your agreement to use only composite fillings, perhaps you could demand a sum of money that would allow you to go to a good holistic (aka "biological") dentist in your state who would replace the amalgams safely, including the one under the crown. The mercury from the amalgams has, by now, also contaminated the other metal surfaces (e.g. the underside of the crown) in the mouths, so he will not become mercury free until that crown is also replaced. The pulpotomy is also a potential health issue, as keeping such a dead issue poses a threat of infection and toxicity. 

       You may contact DAMS (Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions) to receive more detailed information on these issues: amalgam mercury, safe amalgam removal, toxic crowns, dead teeth, and more. For people of all ages, the dental-health issues are important, and dental causes are clearly an unsuspected cause of many physical and mental health problems facing us. We can provide a list of knowledgeable holistic ("biological") dentists in your state and province. Call us at 651-644-4572 or e-mail us at [e-mail].

Yours truly,

Leo Cashman, Executive Director

DAMS, Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions

[Cynthia Mosher]

Hello DAMS Office and welcome to Mothering. We're always happy to allow service providers such as yourself to offer information so that our community can benefit from what you have to offer. Howver, future posts should be in discussion and not service promotional in any way. 

Your informative post and offer to help locate dentists is appreciated. However, it would be an even greater service to this community if you provide the list of dentists as a whole so that we can create a resource here on Mothering for our community to use. If you're willing to do that please contact me at [e-mail] and we'll discuss it further. 

As for the more detailed information on these issues: amalgam mercury, safe amalgam removal, toxic crowns, dead teeth, and more we'd be open to you creating some articles to post on the site. If you are interested in doing so just let me know. 

[Louisw]

Originally Posted by Alenushka 

Do you have dental insurance? It is possibale that the dentist had to  substitute because of what insurance would authorize.

Yes this is indeed often the case. Our loving CDC et al are at least tacitly encouraging the use of MERCURY in our bodies. MOST dental fillings put in under welfare are MERCURY.

IMO spend a little time with your children. Inform them on the difference between the deadly MERCURY fillings and safer composite. Teach them to ASK if mercury is being put in their mouths and to REFUSE to accept it. To get out of the dental chair and WALK out of the office if required.

It is their life.

[Louisw]

no post

[Marie Flowers]

I have a webpage on mercury toxicity and a mother who was very careful about her child's health contacted me. This mother had moved to another state, and like the mother above, sought help from the American Dental Association to find a good dentist for her child. Since the ADA supports the use of mercury in children's teeth, they referred her to a mercury using dentist. After the child had several amalgams placed, she started having seizures, and was diagnosed with possible Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The pediatric neurologist suggested the family move next to a MS clinic for children. 

However, the mother found help in finding a safe biological dentist in her new state, had the fillings safely removed using safe protocols, and started her on a gentle detox program. The mother was horrified because she only wanted the best for her child (organic food, etc,) but she had no idea the silver fillings contained mercury until her child's health symptoms started after dental work and she started researching the web.

There have been FDA hearings in 2006 and 2010 concerning the use of amalgam and its possible connection to neurological diseases. In 2006 dental Activists only wanted warnings for pregnant women and children, and the Advisory Panel to the FDA strongly recommended the FDA do so. There was a brief warning for one year on the FDA website, but then the FDA took down the warnings and proclaimed amalgam fillings safe for everyone.

The hearings in 2010 were the result of a suit by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (a holistic dental association) to reconsider the FDA's decision from the 2006 hearings. 

You can find testimonies on YouTube from the 2010 FDA hearings under the channel "mercurymatters." Just go to YouTube and do a search for "mercurymatters" 

There are testimonies from biological dentists, scientists, and poisoned consumers including the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. 

There is now a push to ban or phase down the use of mercury world-wide. Dental Activists have attended and spoken at the United Nations Programs to ban mercury world wide.

Please share this with mothers everywhere. We do not want children today to suffer what our generation has gone through in our health related problems because of mercury amalgam fillings. 

Marie Flowers
DAMS 

[Louisw]

Originally Posted by Marie Flowers 

I have a webpage on mercury toxicity

Marie Flowers
DAMS 

Do you have a link to your page? TIA

[Alenushka]

Bostong orckestra conductor is not a dental expert.

I have my own anekdata. I had all silver fillings while in Russia and I never had siezures or MS> Neither any of my numerous friends or co-workers.

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mercury.html

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by Alenushka 

Bostong orckestra conductor is not a dental expert.

I have my own anekdata. I had all silver fillings while in Russia and I never had siezures or MS> Neither any of my numerous friends or co-workers.

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mercury.html

Yeah, I have amalgam fillings from childhood which I have survived. But that doesn't mean I would ever allow a dentist to put mercury in my children's teeth.

You might want to google a better link than Dr Stephen Barrett.

[Pookietooth]

I really don't want this to become a debate about the safety of amalgam fillings. I do believe that amalgam fillings are a bad idea, and I also found a dentist who uses the proper protocol for removing them. I guess I was more asking whether it's likely the dentist would at least refund the (very high) price they charged to do it in the first place. And it sounds like that is not likely. Just have to chalk it up to yet another reason to mistrust dentists. The fact is, I was led to believe that the dentist would use composite fillings and instead used mercury without telling me. That is dishonest. They could have asked if I wanted to pay the difference, but did not. That is the problem I have with it, but I see why they think it was ok -- and yes, I do believe mercury is toxic. I broke a thermometer once when working at the EPA, and I had to evacuate the room!

[JoeBel4U]

The state of Calif. requires posting a warning regarding the dangers of Hg and you and the dentists' office were both aware of the issue prior to placement. The parties involved entered into a contract based upon good faith and knowledge of the issues. If you do not demand they hold up their part of the contract, who will? If they are required by some insurance protocol to not honor your demand they should have informed you ahead and denied you service. You can sue without an atty in small claims court for up to $10,000 in damages, and it is your duty to do so since no one else will. It is not that hard to do and if you have what you posted you do regarding a statement from them saying they would not use Hg, and they did, they broke a contractual bond and you are entitled to all damages, both what you paid, and an estimated amount for a reputable dentist fees for removal and replacement. Your local courthouse should have paperwork available to fill out regarding small claims(up to $10K). While there, sit in on a few to see how easy it is to bring them into court, then focus on the contract and how they broke it. After getting hauled into court a bunch of times, they will stop doing this regardless of their insurance company. If you do not call them out, do you not foster the same suffering upon others? Best Wishes for success! JOEBEL

[Marie Flowers]

I am not allowed to post my website on this forum for you. I will try to post information about myself and website on my profile. 

Edited by Marie Flowers - 11/4/12 at 4:44pm

[Imakcerka]

I'm not trying to shame you here.  But when the Dentist tells you what needs to be done, you know you have the option to opt for the other fillings?  They give you a list after the check up and in that time you can look over everything and decide for yourself what you want done.  Sometimes they even give you a quote.  All the Dentists I have gone to have options and give me a quote with different fillings.  My out of pocket is always at least twice as much because I steer clear of what I'm not okay with. 

When it comes to our childrens dental health and our own, just like our medical care we need to ask questions and be firm.  Most dentists let you know what you need to consider and if they don't you need to ASK.

[Marie Flowers]

I believe this mother did have a quote for composite fillings, but then he turned around and did what he wanted. There basically is NO INFORMED consent in dentistry

except in a few states like Maine and other New England states. Even in those states dentists violate the informed consent laws without penalty. Dentists put mercury

in kids teeth every day and do not tell mothers that silver fillings or amalgam is half mercury. This is FRAUD.

Yet mercury free dentists are brought before their state dental boards and accused of fraud when they try to tell the truth about mercury to their patients. 

Activists in Virginia tried to get an INFORMED CONSENT law passed in 2004 but the Health Committee in the General Assembly just brushed us off and my state senator 

told us to "tell it to the FDA." People before 2003 had already told it to the FDA but it did no good. We told it to the FDA again in 2006 and 2010, but still most states do 

not have informed consent laws concerning dentistry, though the American Dental Association "claims" dentists do discuss materials with patients, and love to do so. 

There were Congressional hearings on the dangers of mercury amalgams and lack of informed consent in 2002-2003 conducted by Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana and Congresswoman Diane Watson of California. Here are some YouTube excerpts: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfULWxdF0zI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtKsNM5guKM Dentist in VA was fined for "giving patients a choice" while the American Dental Association spokesman was testifying before Congressional hearings that the ADA "encouraged patient choice." 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-108hhrg87704/pdf/CHRG-108hhrg87704.pdf  Government Printing Office transcripts of the 2003 hearings "Consumer Choice and Implementing Full Disclosure in Dentistry." 

At the time of the Congressional hearings Watson and Burton were continually presenting legislation for informed consent and banning the use of mercury in dentistry. None of the legislation passed, not even legislation "encouraging" people to become aware of which products contained mercury. All the bills died in committee. I investigated the amount of money the ADA gave to Congressmen in the Commerce committee and some received up to $10,000 a year from the American Dental Association. 


 

[Juvysen]

FWIW, My mom is a dental hygienist...

We were recently talking about the amalgam fillings vs. the white (er, bpa laden, but that's another thread) fillings for my son who recently had to have a tooth filled.  I guess the reason they recommend the amalgam fillings for children is because it is quicker/easier/takes fewer steps than the white fillings do... thus, when a kid is squirmy or won't keep their mouth open properly or what-have-you, it's a "better" choice (because it's more likely to be put in properly and not fall out easily later for a squirmy or otherwise difficult situation)... you know, if you ignore the mercury part.  The dentist we took my son to said straight up that they would aim for the white fillings, but if they were having a hard time with it, the wouldn't be able to just not do anything and leave it open, and since the white ones can be tricky they'd be stuck filling with the amalgam if it comes down to it.  I appreciated that they said that, at least, you know?  I do have a friend whose son ended up with an amalgam filling for the same reason but they hadn't been informed that was likely in certain cases.

We were lucky that they were able to get the white one for him, but he has another (bigger) filling coming up soon and I'm not sure what to expect with that, honestly.  He has sensory issues and things anyway, so the mercury really freaks me out :(

I don't know if that helps at all, but I thought it might be useful information.

Good luck having them removed safely (or whatever you decide to do)!  :)

[Marie Flowers]

"We were lucky that they were able to get the white one for him, but he has another (bigger) filling coming up soon and I'm not sure what to expect with that, honestly.  He has sensory issues and things anyway, so the mercury really freaks me out :(

JUVYSEN 

You can talk to Leo Cashman at DAMS, Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions about your options. He is posting in this forum under DAMS Office. You could possibly do some type of sedation, but I am not sure which would be safest. With a large cavity you also have to watch out for the stainless steel crowns dentists use on children. They are called stainless steel or chrome crowns and they have the heavy metal nickel in them which are also very toxic. 

One woman testified at FDA hearings in 2006 about how her teen age son who was a straight A student regressed to failing grades after a dentist placed stainless steel in his mouth. After having the stainless steel removed he recovered. Congresswoman Watson remarked her next project after banning mercury was to address the toxicity of nickel. Unfortunately she has now retired from Congresswoman of California to take care of her mother. 

Dr. Hal Huggins stated in his books, website, etc that when he saw children with very thick lenses in their glasses at airports or other places, and when he would approach the child they always had the chrome crowns in their mouths. He said the nickel affects vision and it also causes cancer. You can google to find what a stainless steel crown looks like: http://tinyurl.com/9t77ko5

However mainstream dentist's sites say these crowns are very durable. That is the problem in dentistry. Mainstream dentists are taught only to look for durability, not bio-compatibility with the body's immune system.

They now have porcelain crowns for children that are white on top, but at the base, they are still fused to metal---stainless steel containing nickel. 

The dental mills known as Small Smiles had an expose done on their services by TV stations in the Maryland and DC areas. They were placing UNNECESSARY stainless steel crowns in kids teeth so they could get $220 from Medicaid instead of the smaller amount for a filling. They also put in unnecessary root canals for a larger amount of money. Root canals also contain toxic metals. Children would come out of these clinics with the whole front of their mouths with stainless steel. It was horrible! 

There are videos online about the Small Smiles Clinics and their lawsuits. In some of them you will find kids with their mouths loaded with stainless steel crowns. 

I don't know the answer for this. I don't know if you could put a solid ceramic or porcelain crown in a child's mouth. The price for a solid porcelain crown is $800 to over a $1000 in an adult.

But adults are also getting toxic crowns when dentists sell them porcelain fused to metal crowns---porcelain on top and metal in the base. With these crowns you will see an ugly grey ring around the base of the crown. When the metal based crown is placed over mercury or in the mouth with mercury it can cause a battery like effect, called oral galvanism. Frequently people will taste metal, become nauseated and become very ill. When different metals are placed along side mercury, it causes more mercury to leak out of the fillings. The battery like effect will cause electrical currents in the mouth sending electrical currents even into the brain.

I learned all of this after becoming poisoned from mercury vapor when a dentist unsafely drilled out a mercury dental filling and then placed a porcelain fused to metal crown over top of the remaining mercury filling. I thought I was dying from this toxic crown's metallic taste. It was the first thing the biological dentist took out. 

Marie Flowers 
DAMS 

Edited by Marie Flowers - 11/4/12 at 4:50pm

[Pookietooth]

That makes sense then -- my son was quite anxious about this dentist, and he gave him nitrous along with Novocaine (mind you, at the holistic dentist we used to see in WA, he never needed Novocaine (she preferred not to use it), much less nitrous, and he had quite a few fillings. I still am surprised he didn't consult with me before making this choice, but he was very brusque and didn't even tell me which teeth he would be working on -- acted like I was interfering or something. He also put in a stainless steel crown, and since my ds has had two molars pulled, he has stainless steel space maintainers. 

Hmm, I had braces, and remember now that I started to feel "dumb" once I got them on. My reading ability went down, and my grades did, and I began to have chronic sore throats. I had always figured it was hormonal. Have to wonder about that. I am also allergic to nickel -- I get a rash when wearing cheap jewelry