Richard Torrens Medical experience
Dorset holiday	DIY & Electronics	Family History	Hi-Fi History	Misc	Natural History	Wild Food	Walks
Prof. Hugh Torrens	Biography	Books	Medical	Cats	Dorset holiday	Walks etc. in Dorset	Old Photos

My father was a dental surgeon so, during my childhood, I had free dental work. Many of the fillings he did were gold inlays. However these don't last indefinitely and as they fell out I gradually had them replaced - with amalgam. Some of the bigger ones have now been replaced by gold crowns. Now my chemistry and physics knowledge I am aware of the low vapour pressure of mercury and it's low chemical reactivity. So I had believed that amalgam fillings were not a problem.

However, about 1993, my hands started aching. It's mostly associated with computer work. I looked at ergonomic mice. None helped. I read up on RSI: it wasn't. so I put up with it. Then went to the doctor, who prescribed some pain-killing rub. No effect. By now I was pretty ambidextrous - swapping hands often on keyboard and mouse.

Then I went to a different doctor. was X-rayed. Some arthritic degeneration in a joint where I felt little pain. That wasn't it.

Then I visited a medical herbalist. She said I was probably suffering from mercury poisoning.

So I started investigating. After much hunting (opinions are freely available on the www - facts are not so forthcoming) I begin to see her point. However it is not clear exactly how concerned one should be, or how far to take action.

These are links to some of the sites that have made me see the point.

• Mercury vapour levels in dental practices - clearly the trade is concerned for its own safety.
  Body mercury levels can be measured by hair analysis, or by urine. This study states that urine is a better measurement than hair. Other pages say hair analysis is only useful for measuring inorganic mercury - mercury that isn't bound to body tissue.
• Mercury Vapour in the Oral Cavity in Relation to Number of Amalgam Surfaces and the Classic Symptoms of Chronic Mercury Poisoning.
  Quite a technical document but quite clearly mercury does leach out of amalgam fillings. The paper is quite technical.
• The Klinghardt Neurotoxin Elimination Protocol
• Sulfur & Mercury apparently mercury's toxicity has a lot to do with its affinity with sulphur, which is an important chemical for life. Virtually all geological mercury is present as cinnabar, or mercury sulphide, HgS. The linked page is quite technical but goes a long way towards explaining mercury's toxicity and why the symptoms are so varied and diffuse.
• US National toxicology program - Mercury is a general US government paper on mercury poisoning and sources. Page last updated on 09/28/2006
• Mercury in your brain from amalgam fillings in your mouth essentially a list of references, with abstracts, proving that mercury migrates from fillings into your brain. Symptoms and danger levels are not noted. It notes several animal studies which show mercury migration.
• Coriander leaf (cilantro)
  Coriander leaf has been found to have a rather special ability to help the body excrete toxic metals.
  • How To Detoxify From Mercury Amalgam Fillings
  • Oral Chelation of Heavy Metals - Mercury, Lead, and Aluminum
  • The Poor Man's Chelation Therapy
  • Cilantro Used To Chelate Metals the page tells some interesting stories, from a personal perspective.

Personal conclusions

The conclusion I have come to is that no panic measures are necessary but that one should assist the boy to excrete mercury by taking regular amounts of coriander leaf and by eating also foods that are rich in sulphur. The coriander helps the body excrete through bile, urine and other channels. Mercury in the bile can get reabsorbed but the sulphur in foods containing it can bind to the mercury and reduce reabsorbtion.

Top of page

Page Information