Mercury Dental Fillings

There was a time when this was considered "cool." Smoking was considered sophisticated and hip. There were even magazine ads with medical doctors supporting one kind of cigarette over another based on their supposed "mildness" and gentleness to the nose and throat--even though many medical professionals knew better.

Eventually, the public became educated as to the dangers and risks of smoking, and laws were enacted to protect people from second-hand smoke. Cigarettes became harder to buy as vending machines were removed from locations where children had easy access to them. Even as the powerful tobacco lobby fought it, offices,restaurants, bars, clubs, motels, hotels, planes, trains, taxis, cruise ships--all became off-limits to smokers. Smoking became very un-hip as its links to cancer, emphysema, and other chronic diseases were exposed. Even the Marlboro man died of lung cancer. Tobacco's dangers could no longer be ignored.

Mercury dental fillings were considered by most people to be safe for many years, even though many medical and dental professionals knew better and fought against them.

These fillings were popular because they were inexpensive for the practitioner as well as the patient, and they were relatively easy to place in teeth, as long as you didn't mind losing a lot of vital, healthy tooth structure in the process. Even though the health risks of mercury were known, and even though they cracked, broke, and leaked and distorted teeth so that they would crack and break as well, the dental community stood by them and continued to use them.

Today, the public is slowly learning about the risks of mercury amalgams, even as safe, healthy alternatives for them are being discovered and used.

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