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Dental amalgams have been in use since the American Civil War. They are an anachronism that have been perpetuated by dental industry patents, and there’s a conspiracy of silence that seeks to keep the 75 percent of Americans who are ignorant about the fact that amalgam fillings are actually 50 percent mercury.

Fortunately, in the last 10 years nearly half of dentists have recognized this and have stopped using them in their practice. However, 50 percent of all US dentists still use them, and that currently accounts for between 240-300 tons of mercury entering the market every year. In the United States, dental offices are the second largest user of mercury – and this mercury eventually ends up in our environment by one pathway or another.

Dental Mercury-A Major Source of Environmental Pollution

 Mercury from dental amalgam pollutes:

     Water via not only dental clinic releases and human waste (amalgam is by far the largest source of mercury in our wastewater)      Air via cremation, dental clinic emissions, sludge incineration, and respiration; and      Soil via landfills, burials, and fertilizer