A Five-Page Article
for publication by DAMS, Inc.
(Dental Mercury Amalgam Syndrome)
By Rob Sherwood
23 December 2003
My first phone conversation with Leo Cashman, executive director of DAMS, occurred on a Sunday in May of 2001 when I was seeking confirmation that removing my amalgams might affect a gastrointestinal disease that I had been suffering from for the previous six months--ulcerative colitis (also known as proctitis, inflammatory bowel disease, or acute inflammatory colitis).
I was 49 years old and had been experiencing bouts of horrible abdominal cramping followed by multiple bowel movements that became increasing liquid, culminating in a mess of whitish discharge (the lining of my colon) and blood. These bouts were occurring with greater frequency (from once a month to twice or more) and intensifying; I was growing desperate, anguished, and fatigued.
I was also out of ideas: I had been told by my gastroenterologist that no one knew what caused this syndrome and no one knew its cure. He explained that there was an epidemic of this sort of GI disease occurring in younger and younger people. In fact, most research pointed to its turning into colon cancer within ten years of its onset and, unless the colon was removed, to death. The gastroenterologist did prescribe one expensive medicine, Asacol, a brand name of Mesalamine, which failed to have any effect.
Leo patiently reiterated that scientific studies have linked mercury in fillings to many of the diseases that are now epidemic in our society: Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Manic-Depressive or Bipolar disorder, suicidal despair, GI diseases like Colitis and Crohn's disease, and so forth.
Leo also pointed me to DAMS' excellent and informative website (www.amalgam.org) and explained the importance of certain protocols and detoxifying regimens when removing amalgams. Leo also gave me the number of a friend of his who had cured himself of colitis by getting his amalgams removed. Once I contacted this friend and heard his story, I was convinced that getting all of the mercury out of my mouth would be the most important step I could take for healing myself.
My next step was to contact one of the two dentists that were listed on the DAMS website for the state of Virginia, where I live. The dentist was knowledgeable about all the DAMS-listed protocols for mercury removal, and, at my request, sent my blood sample off to Boulder, Colorado, for the Clifford [Dental] Materials Reactivity Report. The results of this test listed the suitability or non-suitability of several hundred dental materials for me.
The first main dental procedure I had done was to pull a tooth, a main chewing molar in my lower right quadrant, tooth #30. This tooth had developed a toothache; the dentist informed me it was cracked; and it had had a root canal in it for the past twenty years. Heeding the warnings on the DAMS website about root canals and their ill effects on one's health over time, I opted to have it pulled. For two years now I have done fine with the gap in my teeth and so have not chosen any of the replacements available, such as a porcelain bridge, a plastic "flipper," or a removable single tooth denture.
After the tooth was pulled, my next four visits were for amalgam removal. My eight amalgams were removed carefully, quadrant-by-quadrant, with a rubber dam in place and a lot of suction applied to the area. Using my Clifford Materials Reactivity Test results, we chose a white porcelain material called "sculpture" as the amalgam replacement material.
After each of these visits, I drove myself by prearrangement to a colleague of the dentist's who practiced alternative medicine where I would get a pint of intravenous Vitamin C fluid fixed to my arm for a form of chelation therapy to help detox the mercury (it would be peed out).
After these visits, the only visible metal in my mouth were the three gold crowns. And, something had happened to my colitis--I had no symptoms for two months. I was elated and called Leo back, in January 2002, to tell him the good news. I offered to help DAMS by being an activist to help spread the good word.
However, Leo cautioned me to wait at least six months of being symptom- free before being sure all was resolved.
And, sure enough, after the third month the symptoms reappeared, but only at about 20% of their former intensity, which still counted for a big victory. Nonetheless, in May of 2002, a year after my first call, I was calling Leo back to ask for his advice again. He said that mercury fillings are usually left under gold crowns and that this has a doubly caustic "galvanic" effect on the gold, making it as toxic as the mercury.
So I had to proceed with the next step: replace my three gold crowns. This time I checked into my local family dentist. He was skeptical about the toxicity of mercury on one's health (which irritated me), but did concede that he had seen improvements in the health of about 50% of his patients who had removed their amalgams. I told him that my own colitis had diminished by about 80%, but that I wanted the three crowns done too. His price was one-third what the other dentist wanted, $760 per crown, and he would use the latest nonmetallic porcelain-ceramic composite material, "Sinfony."
The local family dentist replaced the three crowns from December 2002 to May of 2003. Sure enough, there were huge mercury amalgams under two of the crowns, and a smaller amount under the third. I was elated, knowing that this was the answer to completely ending my colitis symptoms--which, Lo and Behold!, has occurred: I have had no colitis symptoms since March of 2003--for the past nine months--a triumph over the supposed "incurable" disease of colitis!
In the course of this midlife health ordeal, I have learned to keep plugging away at a solution, trusting that the body can heal itself if purged of debilitating toxins. I have kept a "healing journal" that has filled three composition notebooks about my process, which turned out to take two and a half years and cost upwards of $10,000 in all (which includes a few alternative therapies I had tried before calling Leo at DAMS).
So here I am: a recovering mercury-addled American who, from the age of twelve or so, owing to overconsumption of sugar, had large amounts of this highly toxic mercury (50% of each "silver" filling) placed an inch from my brain.
And, yes, I am a DAMS activist, and I have told countless people (often my students as well) about my experiences and about the toxic effects of mercury in the body. And, surprisingly, I know of few of them who have acted to rid themselves of mercury in their teeth--including two friends with Parkinson's disease (in their early 50s) with mercury in their mouths. My advice is simple: if you have mercury in your teeth, get it out the simplest and fastest way you can. There are excellent new nontoxic porcelain and ceramic materials to replace it with.
Do it now, before the vast armada of alien midlife neurological syndromes descends on you. I feel strongly that no one with mercury in their teeth gets away without ill effects. These mercury-borne diseases of high tech toxicity riddle you with incomprehensibly debilitating neurological and physical pain. This pain, while a tragic momento of our culture, is avoidable. I feel that my case is typical of millions of people who have had mercury fillings in their teeth; the effects are hard to detect for a while but eventually result in neurological calamity and disease, especially with advancing age.
And, again, thanks to Leo Cashman for the many occasions of his friendly and sage advice--they have given me a new lease on life! (THE END…..)
(Author's note: DAMS only recommends that amalgam fillings be removed by biological dentists who use proper precautions, not family dentists who do not use precautions.)
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