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Mercury is a bad substance. It could have negative effects if you poured it over your cereal or cracked open a thermometer and drank it down.

However, there are some substances we can have small amounts of and still live a very healthy life. Acid is found in pop and in your car battery. I drink pop - too much so drinking the fluid from my car battery would probably not affect me as much as you - but actually drinking it would be bad.

So we know there is a limit. But is the mercury found in dental fillings (and that might be leaking out) going to kill you, make you talk funny, damage your brain, or something worse?

Well, it looks like those you who believe it is bad have the most to say and/or they proliferate because they are acting on some legitimate or irrational fear about it, which the naysayers do not have.

To give you "some idea" of where you can take your cue, I did a search and found some links to help start your navigation of this dental issue.

These links might not settle it for you - and everyone has an ax to grind. But we as consumers need to make sure they are not swinging it for us (or impaling us with it).

You need to have some variation of "perspectives" and not just a few "good" arguments when you make a decision. If the "experts" can't agree, it is up to us to make the final decision.

Moderate voice (some from both sides)

Professes its value and safety

Probably influenced by the masses not necessarily focused on you specifically

Don't Like it

• amalgam.org
• savvypatients.com
• toxicteeth.org
• the7thfire.com

Remember to ask your dentist about this issue - maybe your friend's dentist too. The web seems to offer many, many, many, many more opinions than it does definitive evidence. Be safe, be sure and be informed.

Also read the other dental blog on this site… Dental Mercury - Good, Bad, Who is Right?

Dental Blogger 2007