Henry Schein Inc., the largest seller of dental amalgam (mercury fillings, and a flu vaccine seller as well), has been hit with multiple lawsuits that highlight how little regard this company appears to have for public health and the environment.

Once in your body, mercury, a neurotoxin, can harm your nervous system to differing degrees, depending on how much mercury you’ve accumulated in your body.

At above-average doses, brain functions such as reaction time, judgment, and language can be impaired. At very high exposures, mercury can affect your ability to walk, speak, think, and see clearly.

A single amalgam filling may release as much as 15 micrograms of mercury per day, and according to some estimates, 10 micrograms per day is average.

Despite the known health and environmental risks, about half of US dentists are still implanting this toxic metal into their patients’ teeth (with the approval of the American Dental Association, or ADA).

Mercury fillings also remain popular in China and India due to their low cost and widespread availability, and the industry is pushing for its growth, including in North America, despite their known dangers.¹

Lawsuits Allege Henry Schein May Be Intentionally Putting Public Health in Jeopardy

Three complaints filed against Henry Schein allege the company and its top executives misrepresented their intentions when working with a former business partner, Ken Rosenblood, who works to bring dental offices into compliance with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regulations and OSHA standards for infection control.

Henry Schein induced Rosenblood to bring them into a deal to buy two health compliance companies, which Rosenblood believed they were buying to help create a “one-stop compliance solution for dentists, practice-based healthcare, and Henry Schein.”²

The complaints allege, however, that Henry Schein bought the companies not to grow them and improve compliance but to bury them “in order to protect their existing profit centers that put patient health and safety at needless risk.”³ As reported by Business Wire:⁴

“These lawsuits allege that Henry Schein wanted nothing to do with improved safety and compliance solutions because they disrupt and threaten the profits of its existing business model.

The complaints allege that Ken Rosenblood discovered, after joining forces with Henry Schein, Inc., that Henry Schein’s business interests are often completely opposed to the product lines they purchased with Rosenblood and that were developed by Rosenblood.

The complaints allege Henry Schein did not want to expose their customers to Ken Rosenblood’s cutting edge compliance technology, because Schein offered competing products of lower quality that they were more interested in selling.

The complaints allege that Schein would not put Rosenblood’s innovative products in their catalogue because they conflict with its other purposes.

Because of Henry Schein’s actions, the complaints allege how potentially the public health, the public trust, public well-being, and integrity of our water supply are in jeopardy because the dental supply giant tried to keep information from the public.”