These Mercury Fillings!

Hi guys,

I think I've had a breakthrough to my T worsening 4 days after dental work!......

I thought the dentists no longer use amalagam fillings because of the health risks associated with mercury all over the internet, I presumed the fillings were composite resin fillings. After dboy asked if they were amalgam mercury fillings or not yesterday, I checked the fillings and I was worried.....the fillings although they were not metallic and shiny like my old amalagam fillings, they were blue grey colour, but I thought maybe they were just off colour composite resin fillings.

So today after another bad night with tinnitus I phoned up the dentist to ask what type of fillings they were......and to my shock and horror!.....they are mercury fillings!

I read about mercury/amalgam fillings sometimes even bringing T on in people after dental work!

I feel such an idiot I never asked beforehand if they were mercury fillings! the extra 2 fillings mean I've now got 4 mercury fillings in total!

Do you think the 2 new mercury fillings are the reason my tinnitus has got worse?

 

@mick1987 . I don't think you could attribute it to the fillings with any degree of confidence. I've 4 fillings myself and couldn't say for sure that they've attributed to my Tinnitus in any way, I've had them longer than I've had tinnitus! In addition to that, I've read accounts online of people having their Mercury fillings removed and the Tinnitus remains the same.

It could be that you're worrying (understandably) about it too much. When you're in that mode the Tinnitus always seems louder.

 

@Greg Clarke I also have had 3 mercury fillings before tinnitus, and no connection was there because my T was noise induced, at the start my T was only mild.

I am thinking any new mercury fillings I have had done the other week maybe at the start, before the mercury is truely 'locked in' to the filling has leached mercury into my system, its pretty toxic stuff!

Stress doesn't affect my tinnitus whatsoever..... I've had more stress, anxiety, depression on these last 2.5 years of tinnitus than I think I've had of my 27 years of life put together!.....but it has never changed or worsened my tinnitus, if it did I would have noticed the connection sooner, my T truly is worse.

 

@mick1987 I believe that there is sometimes a large absorption of mercury during the installation of the filling as I have read accounts of other people having problems start a few day after the fillings were put in. This is of course not any kind of proof that this is what happened to you - so apologies if it is now me causing an unnecessary scare.

From my research, some people are genetically predisposed to not excrete mercury from their systems as well as others. So it builds up more quickly. I am currently wondering if I am one of those people as I have other health problems that may be related.

There are a few detox procedures you could try using vitamins and chlorella. Don't panic though. This may not be the cause and your spike might go down again like they usually do.

 

@dboy Thanks for your reply, the problem with tinnitus and it worsening is there is no real way of knowing what is causing the spikes, It could be the mercury fillings, the drilling, joint inflammation from the jaw being open for long periods or it could just be completely random!?.....I'll do a little research into amalgam fillings, but then again doing that I'll scare myself with the whole host of potential health dangers of mercury overload!

I give up!.....I just hope for the best!....if the T goes down then great....if not then it sure sucks but I'm just going to have to get used to it being louder.

One thing for sure though, I'm not going to the dentists again on Friday!

 

Yes @mick1987, you can easily scare yourself researching this stuff. I keep wondering if this is what I am doing, contemplating spending hundreds of pounds getting the fillings out when there might be no improvement in my health.

I have a bridge that was installed when I was 20. I believe it has steel in the construction and have read that having other metals in your mouth like this causes a battery effect with the filling and your saliva, and that the small currents generated increase the release of mercury. I started having health problems in my mid-20's after always being in very robust health previously. Might or might not be connected. Nobody is likely to tell me unless I give them large amounts of money, and then I'm not sure how impartial they would be. The older I get the more I despair about all the dangerous and dodgy treatments I've had foisted on me by the NHS over the years, without being given proper information to make an informed choice.

Good luck. I hope you told your dentist what happened and how you feel about this. Let us know how it goes over the next few days.

 

I completely agree @dboy , I'm angry because they didn't even ask me if I would like amalagam fillings or not?....I bet my dentist just saw the other old mercury fillings and thought "he's already got mercury in his mouth, let's add some more!" Nice and cheap, who cares if it might compromise his health in years to come? And its not even like the dangers aren't known!, its common knowledge mercury fillings are bad for your health! I read one study a while back were they gave sheep 12 amalgam fillings each and afterwards monitored their plasma mercury levels, organ function etc, it was found after a month the animals who had the mercury fillings showed signs of temporary kidney failure!..... I think the dentists know this, but they don't care, just make a nice profit. I bet her with the high salary, nice house, luxury car, she hasn't got any mercury junk in her mouth!....it truly makes me sick there is no real care or compassion anymore. If it isn't dentists its doctors pushing ototoxic drugs your way when your depressed over your tinnitus!....yeah that will help! I've got to remind them I can't take this drug because it might make my tinnitus worse!...OK rant over.

I hope you get to the bottom of your health issues dboy, I will make a complaint to the dental practice, its not on!

 

But then again?.......

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

.....maybe a little too quick to jump the gun!

 

@mick1987 There are gonna be convincing arguments on both sides and I guess you just have to use your own BS detector as best you can. I am personally convinced that this is a real issue for some people, but how many and whether it is for you or me is less clear. I would certainly expect a strong fightback from the dental industry about this. They have a lot of money and face at stake.

The first job I had many years ago after I dropped out of university at 18 was in a laboratory run by the local Trading Standards Dept. We did safety tests on consumer products and a lot of our time was testing for tiny quantities of heavy metals in paint on toys. Mercury included. A toy manufacturer or importer could be in real hot water if there were tiny amounts of mercury in the paint. We exercised enormous care in that lab over the treatment of the very dilute mercury standards we used for calibration. At the same time a dentist was sticking what is probably grammes of the stuff in my mouth without explaining or asking permission. Do I feel safe or reassured by Quackwatch? Not really. But taking fillings out may never resolve my health issues, and I may never know for sure whether there is a connection. I guess that doubt is the crux of it, and what both sides end up playing on.

 

@dboy Regardless of both convincing arguments from both sides, for me personally, what i choose to believe is also sometimes....."what I want to hear"....or "prefer to hear"...the thought that having a few cavities filled has possibly....even if its a small risk...raised the chances of future health problems related to mercury exposure infuriates me!...its really depressing!

What do they say sometimes " ignorance is bliss".....otherwise its a lot of extra stress I don't need right now! I'm unemployment, broke, having the mercury fillings replaced from what I've read also has risks and complications, I'm just going to be one of those clueless sheep for peace of mind, even if I am being slowly poisoned! Lol

 

@mick1987 I hear you and have been in a similar frame of mind for a long time (first becoming aware of the issue around 2002). It is a whole lot of stress and hassle and expense to start looking at getting this sorted and like yourself I am not in a good place to deal with that now. But at the same time I really want to escape the arthritis and psoriasis that are slowly taking over my body and the depression and tiredness that have taken over my mind.

I really hope this discussion hasn't added too much to the difficult time you are having with that raise in tinnitus volume. With any luck in a few days the noise will have gone down again and this will all just seem so much less important. Cheers for now.

 

Can't hurt anything but your wallet to get them taken out.

Though I also wouldn't rule out the actual drill being the culprit... in which case you'd be putting yourself under it again to get the fillings out.

For the other two fillings have you looked in your area for a clinic that uses air abrasion or laser for dental work? I found all of 2 people in my area and I am definitely going to go. No noise, no anasthetic. Seems like it'd be great for us T ppl.

 

@mick1987 , always breathe through your nose and keep your mouth closed when you chew (good manners anyways). Problem solved.

 

@dboy no that's OK, in fact doing research into amalagam fillings helps distract me from tinnitus so it isn't all bad!

As you are aware, there is lots of info on the possible negative health effects associated with mercury in amalagam fillings. Then there are aload of "experts" who refute the dangers of the fillings, stating they are perfectly safe and no "harmful" levels of mercury vapour are released. Then of course as you stated before there are theories the FDA know the dangers of of amalagam fillings but "cover up" the evidence because of "vested interests" in the dental industry. I hope that's not the case because it is a lot of effort, expense, getting them safely removed., but I could see why you would go down that avenue to try and get relief from the unpleasant conditions you are suffering with, I think I would do the same in your shoes. I know I said I will try and forget about it, but for awhile at least anytime I get a headache, tiredness,tingly hands and feet etc the first thing I will aleast wonder about will be these damn fillings!....even if the symptoms are purely "psychosomatic!" Lol

@russiancarl there is a strong possibility the drilling or amalagam fillings had nothing to do with my T spiking, especially since it was a whole 4 days after, it could have just been a coincidence?, an unpredictable " fluctuation" that had me (and yourself, apologies) unnecessarily worried. There are times I think the spike has gone down other times not....simply tinnitus fluctuating....I hope it goes down eventually!

Why the hell didn't I think of that!....Nice one Dan!

 

There is a possibility that the drilling increased your tinnitus ?

 

Yes, I thought that originally, but for 4 days after the drilling my T was fine? Why such a long delay in the spike if the drilling is responsible?

 

I have had 5 fillings done since onset and i always have louder T the following morning but it have always settled down again. Sounds strange to have 4 day delay

 

It must be unrelated to the drilling because of such a long delay? Out of interest did you get amalagam (mercury) fillings?

 

No, dentists don´t use them in Sweden anymore. Think it was 15 years since they did.

 

See that's what I'm worried about. Here in England the fillings are free or at affordable price brackets on the NHS, they still use amalgam because they are cheaper than composite fillings and tend to last twice as long, if you want composite fillings you have to go private (pay) which I would have done if I had known!