How a Mercury Filling Almost Took My Son’s Life

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Mercury Fillings. Safe or No? Come read about How a Mercury Filling Almost Took My Son's Life. Really.

A Mercury Filling almost took my son’s life.

Don’t believe me?

Well, it’s true.

There are some stories about our family’s health that I tell on occasion to share about what we’ve been learning.

Recently I thought that I should share some of these “stories” with all of you so that you can learn more about what we’ve been through.

This is one of those stories.

Now, before I start, keep in mind that I used to be someone who never thought twice about

Like all those things I mentioned above, I never thought twice about getting mercury fillings either.  I mean, you’re telling me that mercury leaches into your body and actually hurts you?  Why would my friendly family dentist put something into my body that would actually hurt me?

Ahem.

Think again.

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Our Mercury Fillings

Since I completely trusted our dentists, and since the mercury fillings were a lot cheaper than the alternative (and we were not raking in the dough), when my oldest needed fillings (and he needed a lot), we always got the silver ones.

Well, one particular time, after he got not just one mercury filling, but two mercury fillings, he kept complaining that one hurt.  I kept reassuring him that nothing was wrong, but he kept complaining and complaining.

And then I started worrying.  I remembered stepping into the room when he was getting the fillings put in and seeing quite a bit of blood.  I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t recall ever seeing a whole lot of blood from fillings before, but then mine was always quite superficial and I only had 2 in my whole life.  But the blood thing continued to bother me.

So I took him in to have the dentist look at it, but the dentist found nothing wrong.  I think we even went in twice for reassurance.

Fast forward a few weeks.

The Nightmare Begins

My son woke up saying that his tooth hurt a lot and his cheek was swollen.  That afternoon he laid down for a nap around 2 pm and slept ’til 5, which was very odd for him.

When I woke him up (so he’d actually sleep that night), the nightmare began.

Half of his face was swollen down to his jawbone and up around his eye.  His eye was almost swollen shut.

I called the doctor and they sent me right over to the hospital.

Now I knew something was wrong.

Admitted immediately.  His swelling was cellulitis – a potentially life-threatening infection of the soft tissues.  Since it was around his eye it was dangerously close to his brain.

Not words a mama wants to hear.

The doctor started IV antibiotics.  But my son got worse.  When I saw my son the next day (Dad stayed in the hospital with him because his younger brother was just a baby and I was home with him), half of his face looked like the Elephant Man’s.

24 hours after being admitted there was talk about him being sent to Infectious Disease because the infection wasn’t responding.

“No!”  I screamed silently.

I drove back and forth from the hospital, getting whole foods and clothing for my son.  Crying, praying, and singing Psalm 23 from the Psalter…

“Yea, though I walk through death’s dark vale…yet will I fear no ill….”

Finally, just before they were ready to send him on to the next set of specialists, things started turning around and we went home with a lot of antibiotics and my son finished them.

Then, about a week later, my son told me that his mouth felt funny.  There it was.  A small swollen spot just above the filling.

Mom got VERY scared and made an appointment.

Doctor visit.

Doctor thinks mom is crazy and that the swelling will go away on its own.

“It’s not just above the filling” he said.

“Yes, it is,” I insisted.

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes, it is,” I said, getting angry and frustrated that he wasn’t listening to my mother’s instincts.  Couldn’t he see it?  Didn’t he know what we’d just been through?

“What’s it going to take to make you happy, Adrienne?”

“A referral to an oral surgeon.”

Well, I got it.

Three oral surgeons.  Their recommendations?

  • Outpatient surgery.
  • Biopsy.
  • The third, most experienced doctor said, “I’m just going to pull the tooth.”

I went with #3.  Least invasive and least expensive.

Tooth pulled and the most well-respected oral surgeon in our city said, “Yes, it was just above the filling and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

(This was said by perhaps that most competent and experienced oral surgeon in our city–one with a reputation for good health care.)

It was a granuloma.

What’s a granuloma?

I didn’t know either.  According to Wikipedia:

Granuloma is a medical term for a tiny collection of immune cells known as macrophages. Granulomas form when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate.

Hmmm..From what I could tell, my son’s body appeared to be attempting to wall off the mercury filling. (It’s possible that the granuloma was related to the injury of getting the filling and not the filling itself, but given my son’s Asperger’s Syndrome (high-functioning autism) and the heavy metal issues that we are now uncovering, I am not ruling out a reaction to the mercury.  Regardless–stay aware and vigilant about your and your family’s health.

Tooth removed.  Granuloma gone.

No more swelling.

The moral of this story is . . .

well, in my mind, there are several:

1.  Don’t assume that others’ stories of “invisible health issues” or sensitivities are invalid or “all in their head.”  I used to think so.  Now that a number of them have come to roost in my own household, I know otherwise.

2.  Mercury is a poison.  I recommend not putting mercury fillings in your mouth as a permanent structure. I’m not saying this is for sure what caused the cellulitis, but I don’t want it in my body or in the body of those in my family.

3.  You are the parent.  You are in charge of your child’s health.  I knew something was wrong with my son and though I was ridiculed by his physician, I pressed on.  He might have died otherwise.  Guess who isn’t our physician any longer?  I sent the resulting medical results to him and didn’t even get a reply. Not good.

4.  Don’t take the lives of your loved ones for granted.  Things could have turned for us on a dime that day.  For now, we are all still together.  Thank God.

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283 Comments

  1. Pardon my French but mercury fillings fucked up my life. I had 8 of them. Took me 24 years to narrow down the cause of my continued suffering. How I’ve being able to wade through this mess and keep going I will never know.

    Imagine after all that suffering you search online listing your worsening physical health symptoms (after 24 years of mental and emotional problems) to find an article coming up talking about metal toxicity (knowing nothing about the subject and having tried every therapy you could for over two decades) and this article surfaced mentions 12 symptoms and you have every one of them as described.

    It was like reading my own personal health situation written back to me, and then you find out in the article that dental fillings are 50% mercury and that this may be the cause.

    Long story short I did a hair mineral analysis lab test by mail and it didn’t show high levels of toxic metals, but I was so convinced by the similarity to me and this article I had to investigate further to see were there other kinds of tests out there, just to make sure and then I find out about what some argue to be the most accurate test, the DMSA urine challenge test, where you collect six hours worth of urine after taking the DMSA chelation tablets and you stir it around and take an average sample into a plastic syringe and send it to the lab to be analysed. See a qualified chelation physician for help with this.

    My results came back: I was high in mercury.

    TBH either prospect was terrifying to me: no mercury and I’d have tried every avenue and high in mercury and I was also shagged.

    Holistic dentist > fillings now gone.

    Start chelation next week. DMSA tablets. 3 days on, 11 days off for six months. Fingers crossed. The ADA have blood on their hands.

    I wish for no financial compensation. I only wish they stop putting this stuff into people’s mouths. No one should have to go through what I’ve been through. No one!

    All the jig-saw pieces went into place. Retroactively the whole thing fits into my story perfectly. From when the panic attacks began years ago (a time after I had some mercury fillings) to the metal taste in my mouth and all the other symptoms that lined up with this since.

    I know for a fact that mercury… I won’t repeat my French. If anyone is reading this, my lab tests came up positive for these metals but no matter how your lab tests might go get those mercury fillings out of your mouth. See a holistic mercury-free dentist. Try to find a good one who deeply understands this subject. It’s very involved, there’s a lot to it and a typical dentist is simply not qualified to deal with this. These fillings need to be removed a certain way and very carefully.

    Here’s a 60-minute segment from 1990 on the subject in question. 30 years on and they are still putting this crap into people’s mouths: https://youtu.be/rF_y4KlUB-k

    Mercury removed from indoor latex paint in 1979 by EPA. Mercury commonly understood by everyone to be highly toxic.

    Mercury still to this day used at a rate of 50% alloy mixture in “silver” fillings. It is by far the highest proportional ingredient in the amalgams. They should be honest and call them what they are… mercury fillings.

    “Do you want the mercury fillings or the more expensive ones?”

    People would be shocked if they were asked this question. Most people have no idea there’s mercury in these things, never mind 50%! Some people I know wouldn’t believe me there was mercury in these fillings. Literally wouldn’t believe me.

    Oh and shockingly (but unsurprisingly) mercury is still used in certain vaccines as a preservative, even in 2020. Because of course, it’s safe!! Don’t you know?? Let’s all have a toast to modern science with a champagne glass of mercury. Chin chin!

  2. Being in the dental field, I can tell you that amalgam fillings (not “mercury fillings”) do have tiny amount of mercury in them. However, mercury is not dangerous to us in the solid state in our mouths. The only time things get a bit iffy is when we actually go to take them out. The reason that this is the most dangerous time is because the RPM’s of the bur heat up the mercury in the amalgam, and that’s bad. So, if you have them taken out, request either a rubber dam or a device called an Isolite so that no materials enter your body that way.

    On the story, while I wasn’t there and am only guessing here, it really sounds like your dentist perforated through into the pulp chamber, exposing the nerve and canals to bacteria, and then did nothing to clean it out before sealing it with the filling. The bacteria caused an infection that should have been treated with a root canal. Since it wasn’t, and there was no outlet for the infection to go, it went into the surrounding tissues and bone, just like any infected tooth would. The antibiotics helped to recover the infection a little, but it began to grow again once the antibiotics were done, causing the fistula directly above the tooth. Anyone in the dental field, and many even outside, can tell you that the fistula is a very common symptom of a periapical abcess. A root canal would likely have solved the issue, and the extraction would take the infection out as well, of course. I’m not sure why the dental office wasn’t clear with you about what happened or why, and unfortunately a medical doctor often doesn’t know much about that area, hence the need for dentists. 🙂

    1. Thanks for your comment. Of course this is a very confusing topic–some say that mercury in the mouth is safe and others say it isn’t. Regardless, are you saying that it sounds like a fistula and that that is the same as a granuloma b/c that is what the oral surgeon said that he found. I personally wouldn’t have thought that a root canal would have made sense b/c it was a a baby tooth but I understand your thinking.

      Agreed on the medical doctor’s limitations, but the issue w/ him was that he didn’t see it was the same area and we were talking cellulitis at that point which isn’t a dental issue. It was very disconcerting.

      Thank you.

    2. Sorry but this is BS. But of course, you’re a dentist so you *would* advocate mercury fillings. To say “amalgam fillings do have a tiny amount of mercury in them” is just factually UNTRUE. Amalgam fillings are MOSTLY mercury (around 50% in fact), and then anywhere between 20-30% silver (hence calling them ‘silver amalgam’ is completely deceptive) and then other trace metals. Perhaps you should consider being a businessman as you certainly have the sly mentality for it.

  3. I have done my fair share of research into this, going through records of companies and fillings they supply to multiple offices and the dental schools in my city. Looking through the mercury contents in available amalgam fillings (which are not *mercury fillings*, but rather mercury and other metals, usually tin, mixed together), even the fillings with the highest percentage of mercury would require about 60 fillings to cause any kind of mercury-related conditions. A granuloma would not form as the bodies defense against mercury, as a granuloma is a growth in response to a white-cell attack by the body, which would not be caused by mercury. You regularly intake very very (microscopic) quantities of mercury, and your body reacts to this in a complete different way than an immune response, which a granuloma could be considered. I think the underlying cause of your child’s need to get a filling caused an immune response by your child’s body and this caused a granuloma to form after the initial immune response had little affect on the growing infection in the tooth.

  4. Thank you for sharing your story. I have two sons and one recently had mercury fills. I didn’t feel confident with that decision as he’s only 10. I will seek alternatives. I’m so happy you stood your ground and made the best decision for your son and family.

  5. God bless you and your family. I am so very thankful that you escaped a tragic outcome. All children should be blessed with a parent as thoughtful, truth-seeking and concerned as you. Shalom.

  6. Hi, I think what your child had was a very deep decay and the bacteria that caused the decay had spread into the nerve in the root canal, causing a nerve infection. Hence there was a lot of bleeding (as the root canal contains nerve and blood vessels) because likely the dentist had exposed the nerve during the removal of the decay.

    And then he/she placed a filling over the exposed nerve which didn’t solve the problem (infection in the nerve) and hence the infection keeps building up and the pain persisted/worsened. A small percentage of children do get cellulitis, as the infection spreads through the muscles etc, and this normally occurs when they’re immunocompromised or sick. Most of the time the body does try to wall off the infection (and usually they end up with a dental abscess, or “gum boil”)

    It’s unfortunate and understandable that you’ll associate it to the silver filling. I would too, if I do not have the background knowledge. But multiple studies have shown that the mercury in the silver fillings do not leak out into the system, as it has already been amalgamated. But the mercury do leak out when dentist drill out the filling.

    But anyway, we are phasing out the use of silver fillings (although they do last better than white fillings for now), as the technology advances and hopefully better materials will come out!

    1. Thanks for the comment. You might be right about the infection but I have read about mercury leaching in many places. Are you certain about that?

  7. Thank you so much for sharing your story. My son just got a filling today. The dentist tried to talk me into a mercury filling. Saying it is safe. At first I said ok, then I said wait I don’t feel good about the mercury filling, I want the other. I don’t care if it doesn’t last as long. Then I googled your story and now feel I made the right choice. Thank you so much! Parents need to be warned of this danger because dentists are saying these fillings are fine. I read that some countries have banned them.

  8. Kuddos to you for getting through all of that! I recently found / started following you when I was trying to find some comparisons for essential oils. I felt the same about the Young Living brand that you were bothered about.
    Recently I posted about going back to my dentist to have my old silver fillings removed too!
    I think it has helped me!! Best wishes for happiness and health for you and your family/loved ones!

    1. Oh! And I had a teacher whose mom complained about hurting hip and they would always dismiss it – for months! Turned out she had a broken hip after falling off the doctor’s table! So it’s a good recommendation to not dismiss someone’s issues are invalid is right!

    2. So glad it helped you! Sorry for the delay. I’m working through a HUGE pile of comments I never got to. Wondering if I will ever reach the end!

  9. I have two permanent raised skin blemishes on my tongue exactly adjacent to were the fillings sat in my mouth ,im sure if I saw twenty doctors at least one of them would diagnose this as a granuloma

  10. Not sure what that. Is im just talking from personal experience and what I worked out from a Facebook amalgam discussion group,were most members had high unexplained metal levels of metals that aren’t used in amalgam

  11. There are actually three ways amalgam fillings can make you sick firstly electrolysis can result in unatural levels of electricity being produced in the mouth this is damaging to the bodies nervous system,then when electrolysis is underway mercury is released at increasing quantities from the fillings ,this is also very damaging to the body as mercury is so incredibly toxic and damaging to the body only behind plutonium in toxicity,and finally once the body has positively charged metal particles within it any metals that are ingested or absorbed through the skin are held onto via magnetism ,resulting in increasing heavy metal levels and making the trifecta of severe health problems

      1. Both this articles and the comments are moronic. Coming from a family of qualified dentists for years and years I can tell you this is all rubbish. There is NO danger with mercury fillings despite what internet garbage you have pulled up, it isn’t scientifically possible to have a toxic amount within a filling, it’s been scientifically proven many times, when people say “mercury is released into the system when grinding teeth” this is laughable nonsense. Also “electrolytes” have nothing to do with electricity, like dear god that is laughable, no doubt someone with zero medical knowledge. If this isn’t all just complete lies and your child actually had cellutis I am telling you now it would have been caused by bacteria that was already living in his mouth and somehow made its way into his bloodstream. Pages like this should be taken off the internet, prevents real people getting GENUINE and FACTUAL medical help.

        1. Hello “Dentist”.

          Nice to know about your family history. However, may I ask this? If I were a doctor and my family history went back to generations of doctors, would that mean that I was right about everything regarding health?

          Also, have you read this document on the FDA’s site and looked up the references in it? https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/06n0352/06N-0352-EC22-Attach-9.pdf

          I’m not saying that I am for sure right but there is a lot of disconcerting information out there about mercury. What GENUINE help do you think this post about my experience is leading people not to get? How about they just ask for a composite filling instead of a mercury one? I wasn’t advising anyone to forego dental help.

          Thanks.

          As for whether or not my child had cellulitis, I find that to be insulting that you would insinuate that I am lying about that or anything else in this post (or on my blog) but if you wish you can contact me directly and I can fwd the medical records to you. Thanks for reading.

          1. Thank you Adrienne, for sharing and as far as the “dentist” who wrote this. Let me tell you about the 10 tormenting years I’ve endured suffering from a mysterious neurological disorder, TMJ-Dystonia.. May everyone who reads this learn from my mistake of having a mercury amalgam filling improperly removed by a “non-holistic” dentist. I used to be a vivacious, attractive and very aspiring performer-songwriter and youth minister. I delivered telephone books by day to supplement my recording Albums and ministry of hurting women, children, the elderly & homeless. Soon after my filling was removed, I had a pulling in my throat muscles. It got worse at the end of two weeks and my husband took me to the primary care doctor in our town. I was diagnosed with Dystonia. I was prescribed muscle relaxants drugs given to “movement” disorder people. I stopped taking them because my mind was foggy, I felt sedated and apathetic. my recording and performing required me to be be alert and concise, so I suffered spastic face twitching, pulling of my throat muscles and tongue-biting. It worsened and at present, I am basically house-bound. Driving causes my upper body to jerk violently, so I barely drive to my weekly chiropractor appointment. A bizarre spastic reaction of my mouth, lower face and shoulders happen as soon as I start the engine! Low barometric pressure also seems to affect my jaw joints, cartilage & ligaments. My poor husband has spends over 25, grand in various holistic-alternative doctors. Most of the test for heavy metals are astronomical, as well as countless TMJ dentists who promise to fix the problem with some mouth appliance. (Which many have reported to NOT fix the jaw misalignment. The other strange thing I’ve found is that focusing on my fine -jewelry beading is about the only thing that relaxes the spastic throat and neck muscles. So we’ve come to the conclusion that this all started because of mercury pouring into my lower mouth, tongue and throat area, (and which has caused HAVOC with the workings of my neuro-transmitters and brain workings. It has been the darkest time of my life & I’d never thought I’b be struggling each day to lose the desire to live because these violent spasms have affected every aspect of my health, life, social-family relationships and even my creativeness and talent in music, fashion design and art! Imagine having NO interest at all in former things one used to love. My next step is making a documentary video of my devastating season of suffering from TMJ-Dystonia mercury poisoning. This is a serious danger and the world needs to know to avoid mercury amalgam fillings. May every dentist read my account and get their acts together. I thank God for my holistic dentist in Belmar ,NJ, who has been a great help in educating me on holistic dentistry!

            1. Oh my. This is just terrible. Can I ask if you have done detox work? Have you seen this? I actually know someone w/ dystonia. I told her it was heavy metals but she refused to really look into it and is not basically crippled. I’m so sorry for you and what you have gone through but am glad that you are working to get the word out. Hope to see you around again.

        2. You left the SOMEHOW open to the Gray area. Meaning you Don’t Even Know. So shhhh. You only have a piece of paper for all thev$$$ you spent to get it. That doesn’t make you intelligent. It makes you money hungry to pay off your student loans by convincing other people that your practices are safe. You where taught to be a good soldier and abide by what they teach you in school. Nod your head and repeat after me. It is safe. Your fine go ahead collect your $$$. It’s harmless. I hope all your children, yourself, and all family members mouths are full of mercury fillings. They are safe. You are rich and when they get sick. You can just blame it on, Well it can’t be this that made them sick. It must be something else in there that made them sick. Cause I know all things. I have a very expensive piece of paper that says Im Smart. (You probably say your christian too and that you don’t lie bhaaa) You have a gift of giving medical treatment for a special $$$ and you say it is safe. I mean you do need these student loans paid off asap. So the needy needs to fork over that cash. You are the answer Not the problem, right. Im sure God is so proud. What’s sad is you prob really believe your correct. Cause Lord knows if you opened another book and read other facts and research on it must be a lie. Cause that research was free. The Truth cost $$$ right. Bhhaaa