The dentist put amalgam fillings in my AS ds, need advice

[Trishy]

*This is not really a dental question. While the problem came from a dental procedure, my question is about preventing my SN son from absorbing mercury.*

So today I took my 2 ds' to the dentist to have some work done. Ds1 is 6 and his dx is AS/ODD. My dentist's office has explicit instructions NOT to place amalgam fillings in my son but, for some reason, they did it anyway. I have found a holistic dentist through the IAOMT who is going to treat him and remove the fillings but they will be in place for about a month. I am wondering if anyone could give me any suggestions on how to protect his body from absorbing the mercury from the fillings as much as possible until I can get them removed.

I am so terribly upset that this was done to him. I have been crying all afternoon, between phone calls. I did call the office and informed them of the mistake, which they referred to as a boo boo. They did offer to remove the fillings and place composites but I told them they would never touch my child again. I located the holistic dentist to treat him and set appointments. I stopped payment on the check I wrote for my copay. I notified my dental insurance that they were being billed for services I had not authorized. I notified the office that they needed to reimburse the insurance company since they filed the claim immediately on completion of the work. Tomorrow I am going back to the office to collect my children's records.

I also left a message for a lawyer who specializes in cases involving mercury. I have been very clear that my son is not to receive amalgam fillings and have ensured it is noted in his chart. On his previous visit, when we discussed what would be done at this visit and when they said fillings I again reinforced that they were to use composite only, to which they replied that they were aware that I do not consent to the use of amalgam on my children. I plan to sue this dentist for what she has done. I am also filing an official complaint with the Kentucky Board of Dentistry.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice on what I can do to protect my son while these fillings are in place I would really, really, really appreciate it.

[tanyalynn]

You may want to ask in Dental as well, since people who've had amalgams removed would be in a similar position--there's a burst of mercury with both the placing and the removal of amalgams as well as the daily leaching.

I just had my amalgams removed 2 weeks ago, and I can share what my healthcare provider recommended. As background: my health has been bad for 2.5 yrs now because of the mercury in my fillings and my kids are affected as well (my younger more than my older), and our healthcare provider is someone with a background in environmental health and specifically mercury.

Except on the day of the removal (don’t take vitC then because it will make the local anesthetic wear off really fast), I need to take lots of vitamin C, to bowel tolerance. That can be a lot. When I started supplements for my kids, my son (about 30 lbs) needed 9 grams per day, and my daughter (40 lbs, and my "healthy" kid) needed about 30 grams. This is highly individual and your child may be vastly different, but I included my kids simply as reference points. I divide it into 3 doses spread out over the course of the day. I use sodium ascorbate because it's gentler on the stomach and doesn't have the harsh, acid taste of an ascorbic acid—it just has a salty flavor that mixes well in liquids (not hot). Whole Foods usually carries sodium ascorbate, or you can order from Bronson, item 50B.

I was told to take extra DHA, I don't know if you've got a DHA supp now, there are lots of brands, or you could use something like Carlson's cod liver oil which is high in DHA/EPA and give about a teaspoon 3x/day. You won't overdose on A or D at that level (not nearly).

A good multi will also help with the vitamins and minerals necessary for detoxification. My HCP recommended Rainbow Light as the best of the brands that are widely-available, and in this case, I think taking more than the amount on the label is fine—the idea would be to provide lots of nutrients to help support the body. I’m giving a small raft of other supps to the kids to help with detoxification as well—it helps with stuff on a daily basis (new toxins) as well as catch-up for all the accumulated stuff they got from me. I think it’s the basic biomedical-type supps, if you want to know what we use, PM me.

On another note, it sounds like you're doing all the things you need to do. I also would be incredibly angry, but it sounds like you're using that productively to take all the steps that you need to, so good job to you!

ETA: Some of the basic stuff for reducing the amount of mercury that leaches out: no chewing gum, not sipping on really hot liquids (more for adults who drink coffee/tea, kids usually eat/drink things that are warm-ish and much less an issue), avoid cilantro, especially raw, and if your child grinds their teeth, wear a nightguard (I think some basic ones are even available at drugstores, they don't need professional fitting). There are probably more, but this is all that comes to mind right now. And again, it sounds like you're doing a really good job dealing with a really difficult situation.

[applejuice]

Yes, when the fillings are put in there is a burst of mercury into the system, and when they are removed there is a burst of mercury leached into the body.

I would report the dentist since you were referred to him for the explicit reason of NOT using mercury amalgam. Report him both to the people who referred you and to the local/state governing board. Nothing will probably come of it, but if he gets enough complaints, he will hear about it at least.

[RedOakMomma]

Wow.

[Raw Vegan Mama]

some options

Cilantro juice is a great natural way to remove mercury from the bosy. You could even add it to smoothies, or just make guacamole!

Also try/research:

Chlorella
Activated Charcoal
MSM



Here is a quote from a book (for adults):

"For two days leading up to the mercury being removed from the body, and for a period of 2-3 weeks after the mercury has been removed, I recommend inclucing in your daily diet as much as 3000 to 5000 milligrams of vitamin C, 3 tablespoons of Nature's First Food, and 5 heaping tablespoons of MSM (mercury bonds with sulfur). These additional nutrients are taken to protect the body against the damaging effects of mercury vapor emitted during the removal process, and to detoxify any mercury residue from the system."

David Wolfe (Eating for Beauty)

[Trishy]

Thanks for the advice I've gotten so far. I cross posted this in dental and would love to hear more. We do have DHA and multivitamins, thought I have not been as good about giving them as I should be. I started him on both today and will give it every day. I am also going to go somewhere tomorrow and get the MSM, activated charcoal, chlorella and some vitamin C tablets. Is there some resource that will tell me how much of each I should give him He is extremely picky about what he will take so I am hoping that I can get all of this into him.

I did want to ask about the gum chewing. One of his main stims is chewing and he will chew up anything he can gets his teeth on. I have gotten this under control by giving him chewing gum. It satisfies his strong need to chew while he is not chewing up things like clothing, entire pencils and pink pearl erasers (!), his fingers, his brother (only partially kidding there). His teacher and I have noticed a big positive change in his attention span since starting the gum. Honestly, I am afraid to take it away b/c I remember how much harder things were before gum. Is continuing to allow him gum going to be harmful for sure? Is there a safe way he can continue to have chewing gum?

[tanyalynn]

Is continuing to allow him gum going to be harmful for sure?

It's physical contact/pressure on the fillings, so that contributes to mercury leaching, but it sounds like gum may be the best of the possible choices. The other possibilities sound more damaging, both to his teeth and to his overall life. In that case, I probably wouldn't fight that one.

The vitamin C is big--for the mercury for my kids, it's one of the main things I've used so far, so if you can do that, it would really help--the kind I mentioned is a powder, and it's easier to get to really high doses (I used to mix it in orange juice for the kids, now I make my daughter a chocolate-based drink).

I don't know anything about dosing for MSM, chlorella or activated charcoal, sorry. For the multi, I thought a bit more about it, and I think I'd give whatever the daily recommended dose is (whatever it is for your brand) with each meal (3x/day I mean). Not as a forever thing, but to really boost nutrients available for this stressful time, this month and a month or two beyond. I don't know of any more formal recommendations out there, this is just my best guess based on the dose I'm taking (a very high-dose multi) and what I've played around with with my kids (working with a HCP, but there's some individual judgement needed too).

Need to run, but it sounds like you're doing good.