h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This entry hits the main issues right on the head (or in the mouth as the case may be) One issue worth examining more closely is that of the dental filling. For much of the last 150 year silver or amalgam fillings have been used with varying degrees of success. The current incarnation of metal dental fillings called silver or amalgam consist of 50% mercury metal which is one of the most toxic of the naturally occuring metals in nature. This has had its impact on the dental profession since mercury poisoning is the leading health hazard in the dental industry. This is even where the term mad as a hatter came from due to the mercury that hat makers would rub into new hats to make them shine.

Unfortunately the deleterious effects of mercury build over time and lead to a host of undesirable symptoms from general nerve pain and immune suppression to reduced intelligence and abject misery. So not only are dentists keeping modern humans free from a mouth without teeth, they do it under extreme hazard to thmeselves!

Of course, the mercury in the "silver" fillings leaches out into unsuspecting patients as well. Which could account for the large number of people with fear and anxiety about going to the dentist. So DO get that rotting tooth taken care of, just avoid the old dentists who have accumulated years of mercury buildup and now find no pleasure in life (besides passing the suffering along).

Whether you choose to have a mercury filling used is of course your personal choice, but in any event stop for a moment and be thankful for the past generations of dentists who have slowly had their vitality and health lost to benefit the rest of us.