This is the title of the article I read from the Sun-Herald Magazine in Sydney over the last weekend. It was written by a dentist.
I must admit that I got very disturbed after reading the passage because it was so misleading and twisted.
He said,” As I say to my patients – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Modern dentistry offers a range of filling materials and none are 100 per cent perfect. Dental amalgam still remains the most cost effective and easy to use. ..”
He also said,” Very sensitive instruments can detect billionths of a gram of a mercury vapour in the mouth of a person with amalgam fillings. This is less than the normal consumption of organic compounds of mercury from dietary sources such as fish and tea, … and is far below the level that causes adverse health effects.”
So, for the faithful readers out there relying on his “expertise”, it is easy to come to the conclusion that there is nothing to worry about. But, deep down, do you think that this should be adequate knowledge in their best interest?
For these innocent readers, would they know
a/ that mercury is such a potent neurotoxin that it can do so much harm especially to developing fetuses, infants, and children; or
b/ that mercury ranks Number 3 as the most poisonous substance, just after lead and arsenic; or
c/ that you can contaminate a 25-acre lake by less-than-a-teaspoonful of mercury, rendering all fishes there not safe for consumption?; or
d/ that dental amalgam fillings unquestionably contain mercury; or
e/ that talking about America alone, increasing number of state governments are imposing laws such that dentists need to install dental amalgam separators in their offices to stop the pollution to the sewers, or
f/ that they might be sleeping with the worse enemy to their health, and one day they have to pay the bill big time.
Even if we take the subject as debatable, I would think that it is good ethics for professionals to make known these risk factors to their patients so that they are given the chance to make a choice for themselves.
As a society, ultimately we have to answer these questions:
Is the innocent consumer made aware of the likely danger?
How much the professionals in the field are doing to “protect” these consumers?
How much the media are doing to uphold an unbiased presentation to the audience/readers out there?
I think each and every one of us, when we come to know about it, has a part to play in making this message known too.
Live Life, Junius.
p.s. some good source of information for further research:
Fact Sheets on Mercury by the Health & Environment Alliance and Health Care Without Harm http://www.noharm.org/details.cfm?type=document&id=1511
A Mouth Full of Poison: The Truth about Mercury Amalgam Fillings
The Problem With Mercury
http://emsi-teacherworkshop.stanford.edu/pages/workshopresources/Problem-Hg_Curriculum.pdf
Dr Chan’s Natural Heath website www.natural-health.com.my
Health Expenditure % of GDP
When it comes to health, most people naturally relate it to their own self. Actually, it is more than a personal matter. It is a family matter, a social matter, an economic matter. It is global. It is …
Health is a family matter. Time and again, we see that a family can be so badly affected just because of one person’s illness. Not too long ago, I learned of a story like so. An indirect friend, Michael, moved from Hong Kong with his family to reside in Sydney. The husband and wife both got very good jobs in the corporate. Two sons were doing well in school and university. It is a picture of a healthy happy family ready to explore the new horizon. But one year later, shortly after the husband, Michael, was diagnosed cancer, we saw a totally different picture. He had to give up his job. He kind of shrank by one size. He turned almost bald. The wife quitted her job because she had to take care of the husband. And, as to the boys, they would not have as much time on their studies as they did part-time work after class to help out the family. The elder one even considered to turn his full-time study into a part-time one in the following year.
Health is also a social matter. It is not easy to cope with the stress and pressure when you have a very sick person at home. At times, this might be the trigger for marriage breakdown, adolescent problems, depression, domestic violence, and the list goes on and on.
Health is also an economic issue. Do you know that the total global expenditure for health (or rather say the sickness industry) was US$4.1 trillion+ in 2004. America’s spending on health was 5.1% of the GDP in 1960, but rising to a staggering 15.3% of the GDP in 2005. If this is any indicator to our trend, we have a cause to be concerned. With the aging of the boomers, you can really feel the pressure is mounting.
For whatever we are doing now, we are handing a legacy to the future generations.
So, on reflection, you know that when you take care of your body, and your health, you are not only caring yourself, but you are doing a wonderful contribution to your family, your society, your country, and the world. Isn’t that nice? 
Live life, Junius
p.s. information on GDP related: http://masetto.sourceoecd.org/vl=3847189/cl=34/nw=1/rpsv/health2007/5-2.htm
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