Quote Originally Posted by roadrunner View Post
My father practiced dentistry for 50 years died at 77 and worked with mercury almost ever day. I would go to the office sometimes after school and he would let me play with a small amount of mercury--it was actually amalgam which was silver mercury tin and copper. he has filled thousand of teeth with this as has my brother who practiced for 55 years and is still living at 87. They still use this today to fill teeth.
My Dentist was a WWII veteran who flew as a gunner in the B25. He was old school and didn't think that mercury was dangerous either.

Mercury is extremely toxic. Certain compounds of mercury are more toxic than others. I have mercury amalgam compounds in a few of my molars and have always wished that the dentist had used something other than mercury. I had these teeth filled long before I went to college and took chemistry classes. I didn't know any better and trusted my Dentist. Remember he was only doing what he was taught to do in dental school. I wonder if they still teach the new dentist to use mercury amalgam these days?

My Doctor was eating lunch with three women at his table. He still had a good sense of self esteem and humor even though he is in the nursing home. He looked bad physically though. He was half asleep at the dining table when I went up to say hi to him. He took care of me the best he knew how. After I started working in the environmental field I asked him one day about the mercury and he dismissed it's dangers. That was the last time he filled one of my teeth with mercury in the filling material. He retired before I needed him again and switched to another dentist. He used a gold filling material instead of using mercury. The Gold is shiny and looks so much better in my teeth.

I'll let you guys do the google search about Mercury in fillings at the Dentist Office.

I knew a quack chemist who once said to the news paper reporter that he ate PCB's for breakfast and was ok. He was a jerk and a quack and lots of people used his services without knowing any better.

I broke a mercury thermometer one time in the lab and used sulfur compounds to clean up the mercury that spilled out onto the laboratory floor. If you tie up the mercury with other compounds you can keep it from entering the human body in it's toxic form. Still I believe that mercury should not be used as it was in the past. Why take a risk if you don't have to?