Posted on 05/20/2004 4:04:00 PM PDT by blam
Swedes urged to pull fillings from corpses
May 19 2004 at 07:33PM
Stockholm - Amalgam tooth fillings made with mercury should be pulled out before people are cremated to cut emissions of the highly toxic metal, a Swedish government agency report proposed on Wednesday.
Mercury, also known as quicksilver, has been linked to neurological problems and is especially harmful to young children and foetuses.
It would be "difficult from the ethical point of view, but it it is nevertheless desirable to be able to decrease the emission of quicksilver", the Chemical Inspectorate report said.
It calculated that since three quarters of Swedes have amalgam fillings, the population carries about 2,8 tons of mercury in their mouths.
In Sweden 70 percent of the dead are cremated, so about 1,9 tons end up in the air or in crematorium gas purification systems, the report said.
How gross. I had a filling replaced today and the dentist and I were discussing that very subject. He must be a secret FReeper.
Pingå!
I had a bunch of my amalgam fillings replaced over the last 10 years. Composite fillings are the way to go - health reasons aside, they look much more natural.
Well, you really don't need your fillings after you're dead, now do you?
No, but, would you take the gold ones too?
There's also another difference between amalgam fillings and composite fillings: amalgam fillings expand slightly when setting while composite fillings contract. Thus you have a much better seal, protecting the area under the amalgam fillings much better.
That mercury scare a few years ago that prompted so many to have the old fillings replaced was wonderful for dentists' bottom line.
But as for aesthetics, you're right. Amalgam fillings look pretty nasty compared to composite fillings.
I hope the EPA doesn't see this. .
Do they have the same mercury problem? If not, no need to. However, I'm an organ donor, and if I don't mind somebody having my corneas, heart, lungs, liver, etc., then I don't mind if someone takes my gold crowns, if there were some benefit to them. I'm just not that concerned about what happens to my body after I'm dead.
Looks as though he made some modifications to his original set of teefus.
But have they been urged to pull their finger?
The Swedes weren't big on this, but the Germans did quite a bit of it back in the early 40s.
Less fillings == Great taste
As Joe Jackson sang "everything gives you cancer." Didn't all these Scandanavian Green whack jobs get the memo? They also have banned most flame retardants. I suspect more Swedes are dying from burning up in bed than from the old flame retardants!
I guess you haven't run across an "amalgamated" dentist who was "mad as a hatter" from mercury exposure, or, at least a bit strange.
have you?
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