How a Mercury Filling Almost Took Our Son’s Life
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A Mercury Filling almost took my son’s life.
Here’s what happened with the filling and how my advocating for our son likely saved his life.
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.
Before I start, keep in mind that I used to be someone who never thought twice about
- drinking non-filtered water
- eating lots of sugar
- using a microwave
- getting immunizations
Like all those things I mentioned above, I never thought twice about getting mercury fillings either. I mean, why would I have thought that my friendly family dentist put something into my body that would actually hurt me?
Ahem. Think again.
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 at the time when our oldest needed fillings, and he needed a lot of them), we always got the silver ones.
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.
After a while, I started worrying.
I then 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 my fillings were always quite superficial and I only had two in my whole life until after I got Lyme disease. 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.
The Nightmare Begins
A few weeks later, our 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.
Our son was 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 our 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 a lot. And we went home with a lot of antibiotics and my son finished them.
Nightmare Round 2
Then, about a week later, my son told me that his mouth felt funny.
I looked in his mouth, and there it was. A small swollen spot just above the filling.
I was VERY scared and made an appointment with our doctor.
The Doctor Who Wouldn’t Listen to Me
Doctor thinks mom is crazy and that the swelling will go away on its own.
MD: “It’s not just above the filling” he said.
Me: “Yes, it is.”
MD: “No, it isn’t.”
Me: “Yes, it is.” At this point, I was 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?
MD: “What’s it going to take to make you happy, Adrienne?”
Me: “A referral to an oral surgeon.”
And finally, I got the referral and went to see not one, but THREE oral surgeons.
Their recommendations were each different, including:
- Outpatient surgery
- Biopsy
- The third, most experienced doctor said, “I’m just going to pull the tooth.”
I went with the third, since it was the least invasive and least expensive.
The tooth was pulled and the most well-respected oral surgeon in our city said,
“Yes, it (the problem) was just above the filling and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
The “it” was a granuloma.
What’s a granuloma?
Well, I didn’t know either, but here’s what it is. 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.
Initially, I thought that my son’s body appeared to be attempting to wall off the mercury filling. However, after sharing this post, two readers commented that the dentist might have created the problem by perforating the root canal and exposing it to bacteria that then wasn’t addressed.
Either way, this was a complete disaster and the dentist did nothing to alert me to anything that had gone wrong, and the doctor wasn’t willing to listen to me.
Regardless, stay aware and vigilant about your and your family’s health.
Tooth removed. Granuloma gone.
No more swelling.
Takeaways
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.
More “Natural Health” Posts
– Natural Autism Healing and the Best Therapy of All
– Natural Autism Healing – Monster Included
– Help! I Can’t Get to Sleep – Natural Help for Children (& Adults)
– Do You Have Adrenal Fatigue? Take This Quick Test
– How we avoided antibiotics – the pink stuff
– Why I’m Thankful for – Autism
Do you or your children still get mercury fillings?
Wow, this just solidified my choice to remove my 10 amalgams asap!
This also reminded me of Jenny McCarthy, and how she “got rid” of her son’s autism by detoxing his body…I’ve heard many stories of people getting rid of it some how with diet and lifestyle changes. Since I’ve been studying a lot about natural health, and medicine it’s safe to say toxicity is involved most of the time.
HI Megan. Well, I can’t say that my son is, or ever will be, cured, but he is a whole lot better and I do believe a lot of it is how we have worked with him. Take care and check out the Huggins protocol for removing fillings.
Hi Adrienne,
After reading the post & all the comments I’m still confused. My son has 4 cavities (!) & I can’t figure out if there is a safe way to get them filled? Because they are on his back teeth the dentist says he can’t just leave the cavities because the teeth won’t fall out til he’s 10 or 11 & he’s only 5 now. Is there a safe filling? Or can I just leave them & keep working on brushing & flossing?
Thanks!
Amy
Many people contact Dr. Huggins’ organization and find a dentist who is willing to follow their protocol. I personally had my kids’ fillings w/ the white filling but I am getting a biocompatible test done now to see what my body does best with. There are people who try to heal their cavities naturally using this book (affiliate link). If you purchase after clicking on that link I might make a commission, but your price doesn’t increase. Sorry for the necessary disclaimer :).
that book was written by an individual with a BA, that has no professional knowledge or training or understanding of dentistry. weston price was a dentist that promoted diet to avoid tooth decay (which all dentists do), but this book advocates weird theories that existing holes in your teeth can be repaired via diet (in complete contradiction to common sense every dental publication and study in history).
Hi again, “Mr. Sprat”. I must say, you seem to have a keen interest in this post :). I know about Mr. Nagel’s background and I don’t particularly advocate his work but I know many people have had success with natural healing using his protocol and I think it makes perfect sense to say that internal health can affect dental health – wouldn’t you say so? I know such things haven’t been published in dental publications per se but I have friends who have seen this kind of thing happen so perhaps you should take it up with them. Thank you.
just use dental composite if needed (the white fillings). though i am critical of this article for incorrectly associating mercury from the fillings with her child’s ordeal, i see no need to use metal fillings that contain trace amounts of mercury when you can use white ones instead without mercury (though, most water pipes in north america are made with mercury and have always been so. newer ones are made from pvc … but they break a lot sooner).
last note: while dentists are professionals and highly trained, they are businessmen also and want to make money to pay for their expensive equipment. they told me my boy needed a filling. but it didn’t hurt so i saw no need. pain tells us it’s not just superficial. wait too long though and the cavity will kill the nerve and the pain will end. so keep on top of it. the old ice cream test is alway good to see if it hurts.
“Mr. Sprat”, there are issues w/ both kinds of fillings, depending on what the white fillings are made of. I don’t think it’s wise to advise someone to just wait for a cavity to kill the nerve. That is careless advice. Thank you. I have never heard of pipes made with mercury so I would need to see documentation about that. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your story! You’re right, YOU are the parent. I think so many people get pressured into decisions and diagnosis because they don’t feel like they’re qualified to question the “authorities”.
Yes! Agree. Completely.
How have I not read this before? Being a new mom, I can imagine how scared you were for your son.
My personal experience with mercury toxicity actually came in the form of a fish-derived vitamin A supplement. I had acne as a teen and took matters into my own hands by taking about 300,000 IU of vitamin A a day. Needless to say, I wish I’d known better, but I can relate to the horrors of mercury. I’ve been chelating off and on for years now, and I’m sure I’ve passed some on to my girls. I can only hope they have stronger immune systems than I ever have.
Thanks for sharing your story!
You are so welcome. I am sorry to hear that you’ve been affected as well. I am detoxing as well and will be sharing more soon. Take care. I think my kids are a bit worse off than me but we’ll see.
please don’t use chelation therapy. its dangerous. http://www.quackwatch.org
vit A is toxic in high doses. ignorance leads us to do these things, chelation therapy will do nothing but harm (like the high dose of vit a).
Hi there again, “Mr. Sprat.” Again, if you are going to be so bold as to confront so many people on my blog I would appreciate it if you would not hide behind a fictitious name. There are many different opinions about chelation therapy and while I don’t personally recommend it, I do use and sell zeolite which is a much gentler version. As for quackwatch, he is reported to be a shill for Big Pharma and is basically against any and all alternative healings which, in my opinion, is ridiculous. There are so many unsafe FDA approves meds that he should be coming down on those as well. Thanks.
Is it tooth #30? Anyway, I didn’t know that the granuloma came back after the tooth was extracted….that is strange. Also, most dentists I know don’t use amalgam fillings anymore just due to the fact that they are not esthetically pleasing, and you have to remove more tooth structure compared to a tooth-colored filling. I myself have not used amalgam in 3 years at all. And I will say that my own father had all of his amalgam fillings replaced because he thinks they are harmful, but I don’t think I will ever agree. To each his own I suppose! Anyways, thanks for your awesome blog!
No, it isn’t #30 either. The amalgam fillings happened awhile ago. My son was younger than. I hope to follow up w/ my dentist later -thanks!
Hi! First off, I am new to your blog and I love it! You have so many helpful posts.
Secondly, I am a pediatric dentist, and it really sounds like your son got the cellulitis from the filling, not the MERCURY in the filling. Just from the picture you posted, I know which tooth it was, and actually that tooth very very commonly gets infected if the dentist barely touches the pulp (nerve) of the tooth and doesn’t know it, and goes ahead and fills it. It is actually fairly common. But what happened in your son’s case is that the infection lingered so long that it turned into a granuloma (stage before cyst), and cause the swelling and subsequent cellulitis. The oral surgeon did the correct thing by extracting the tooth. My only concern is that your post may scare people into thinking that mercury fillings cause these horrible reactions. The mercury in dental fillings is in an “inactive form”, and even if it were to be leaking it wouldn’t cause cellulitis.
Thanks for the great blog, but PLEASE change the title of this post.
Can you tell me which tooth you think it is, please? I would so appreciate it. I am going to chat about this w/ my new dentist who is mainstream, but open-minded as well.
I do think that there is plenty about mercury fillings to concern people even without my post. And I think I was very clear in the writing of my post to say that I am not completely sure what the issue is.
I would love to hear back from you because I would think it interesting that the most experienced oral surgeon in our town would say that he had never seen anything like this if it is so easily diagnosed on the internet. And 3 oral surgeons saw him.
But as always, I am open to being wrong. Thanks!
Hello!
It looks to me like that is tooth #T. I forgot to mention in my previous comment that my husband is actually an Oral Surgeon. He is actually really shocked that 3 oral surgeons in your town would think this is so rare. Cellulitis/ granulomas/abscesses occur all the time in patients with any type of filling. Your son’s tooth was either already necrotic before the filling was placed, or became necrotic due to being filling and having the pulp exposed. There is absolutely no literature to back up the thought/statement that the mercury in the filling caused the reaction. Hope this helps!
It wasn’t #T but I am still going to go to my dentist about it. I didn’t say the surgeons all thought it was rare. The one who removed the tooth and found the bony granuloma said he hadn’t seen anything like it in his practice. Possibly he meant the granuloma. Possibly he meant what it had lead to (near death). We went to 3 OS’s who were trying to determine why, after the internal antibiotics, the lump was coming back. Or that’s at least what I thought. And I was right. I am not surprised there is no lit about mercury causing issues b/c the dental industry isn’t talking about mercury issues in dentistry much, or at all, at least as I am aware. Are you aware of any? I am not trying to be difficult. I am just saying that even my mainstream dentist says it is hard to get regular dentists to admit that there might be a concern. Thanks! Please chime in again.
actually, your title states that mercury in the filling caused the ordeal. and this was wrong.
“most experienced oral surgeon in our town would say that he had never seen anything like this”
yes, a cellulitis that was that far progressed. it was not that the granulatus/cellulitis was rare, but that he/she had never seen one that bad.
there is lots of lit on mercury fillings and nothing showing its unsafe (in real journals). hundred’s of millions of people have had them for a century without ill effects. an absess, however is dangerous … as you now know.
Hi again Mr Sprat. Again, if you are going to be so bold as to confront so many people on my blog I would appreciate it if you would not hide behind a fictitious name.
My title is true, Mr. Sprat. Again, if you are going to be so bold as to confront so many people on my blog I would appreciate it if you would not hide behind a fictitious name.
The filling did cause the ordeal. Whether it was the filling or the drilling, it was the dentist doing the filling that caused it.
How do you purport to know what the dentist meant? He didn’t see my son when he had the cellulitis. It was completely resolved when he saw my son so you are wrong on that.
There are also lots of real journals saying that really dangerous things are safe – as is the case regarding many chemicals on the market. They are testing individually but not in conjunction with other chemicals so in reality they are not doing appropriate testing and are misleading people to think that these chemicals are safe when they are not. So leaning on “real journals” as you say, isn’t necessarily the best thing to do – in that there are problems with them as well. And how can you say that people have had no ill effects from the fillings? I personally know many people who had horrible health conditions that resolved when they got their fillings removed.
Thanks again.
I’ve been doing “oil pulling” for two weeks now. I started out using coconut oil. I LOVED the taste, but didn’t see much whitening. So I tried olive oil. In the first 5 mins. I tasted a STRONG metallic taste in my mouth. I then realized it was my fillings. The more I use it, the less I taste it. Which would make ALL the stuff about it pulling poisons out of your blood stream ring true! Olive oil (cold pressed) really does work on whitening your teeth and making your gums really pink. Oil pulling is very easy and healthy, but the instructions are for your safety and good health and more importantly MUST BE FOLLOWED! My husband asked me if I talked to doctors ….blah, blah, blah….I just show him my teeth ‘n tell him ya can’t argue with healthy gums ‘n white teeth!
Thanks ! Interesting that you like Olive better. What do you mean by following the instructions? Does it whiten even gray toned teeth? I wonder. Thanks!
You need to brush (I floss after I brush the first time, so it can get though the teeth better) before and after each time you do it….AND only do it for 15-20 mins. While you’re sucking and pulling the oil through your teeth, (slowly) It’s important that you mix the oil good with your saliva. (like as if you we’re sucking through a straw) Your blood circulates throughout your body every 20 mins. While you’re pulling the oil, it’s suppose to pull poisons (metals) out of your body and mouth. After 20 mins. you’re putting it back in. Another thing is the brushing. If you don’t brush first, it can’t get straight to the teeth ‘n doesn’t work well. If you don’t brushes after, you will Carry all that bacteria on your mouth and can get flu like symptoms, that will keep you sick. Don’t swallow this if ya can help it. It’s full of bacteria. I read that you had to do it on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. Never did find the reason why. Unless it is a chance of getting sick. Stuff like this would make me gag first thing! The olive oil is so gross I don’t think I could swallow that! I think you can use any cold pressed oil. (Sunflower, coconut, olive etc.) I don’t know what all it will get off your teeth, but if you have any of these, you could try it. Let me know how it works if ya try it!
Thanks!!
Oh my goodness! This makes so much sense! A few years ago I had a filling put in in my upper right molar…and guess what? I’ve had constant minor swelling on that side of my jaw ever since =(
Interesting. All the dental industry folks tell me this can’t be – I am not so sure.
Hi Adrienne,
I have talked to my husband who is a periodontist and he said that it ivan’t be the mercury filling which caused an infection but the infection most likely existed before the filling. He agrees that going to the oral surgeon was a good thing. Glad that he get better.
About the fillings. There are many types and you have to research. There are pro and cons of many different white fillings. Some have fluoride and BPA etc. My husband has PhD in chemistry, I have MS so we read carefully what is in. We check all materials. We asked our dentist to give us a list of all fillings he does with list of “ingredients”. We tried to choose least toxic but strong so it wouldn’t wear out as well. That was for our daughter who had her first and only filling so far (back molar).
The stronger filling had fluoride, the less toxic is weaker. We decided to ask dentist to make layers: line the hole with fluoride stronger filling, but put a layer on top of that with less toxic filling to avoid contact of toxic one with her saliva etc.. It was 4 years ago and cost $350. We didn’t have dental insurance or any kind of insurance at that time, and it was a lot of money for us 🙁 but since it’s something that supposed to last for years and years and long term health is on the line here, we thought it was worth every penny. So her filling is worth more than the car we are driving now LOL! About the sealants: keep in mind how they work and what they are made of. First there is acid applied to make surface (enamel) hang on to the sealant better. This means enamel is etched = damaged. The sealants need to be applied forever after that because when they wear out the weakened enamel is prone to decay: unsmooth etched surface can harbor bacteria. Applying sealand also interferes with remineralization of the tooth. The whole point of using fluoride was to strengthen enamel. I think ADA published something about increasing the enamel layer by fraction of % as result of using fluoride which was the justification for putting it in drinking water. Using acid before applying sealant actually damages more than a fraction of % of enamel so you need to make your decision whether it’s worth it. On the other hand, kids don’t brush way back there well so choice is: etching/damaging and sealing or filling… Another option is always checking how kids brush, or even brushing their teeth. Extra effort, but when you take the cost of fillings into account, well worth it. I still have to check on my 12 year olds’ brushing, sometimes I find plaque GRRRR! She doesn’t like the checking but then she hears “I’m not dishing out another $400 for your filling!!! I won’t check, but next cavity you pay form your allowance. Now pick: checking or your pay if you have cavity” She complies then LOL
Thanks! My dentist is now using glass fillings. Interesting, huh?
not sure i understand? you had a harder filling coated in the softer filling to hold in chemicals. the fillings purpose is to stop bacteria from boring into your pulp and nerves. wouldn’t the bacterial just bore the path of least resistance … meaning around the harder filling and through the softer?