Quack Watch Mercury Analysis

 
Let's analyze Dr Baratz's analysis, shall we?
 My comments are in bold font.

Key Points about Amalgam Safety

Robert S. Baratz, MD, DDS, PhD

Composition

• Statements that amalgam is 50% mercury are false because the original ingredients are modified during the setting reaction.
• Does this really matter?  Mercuric is the most dangerous neurotoxic metal on the planet, well, 2nd to radiation.  Any amount of mercury is poisonous.  And Big Pharma knows this:  /mercuryconspiracy/p/who-is-eli-lilly.html
• Dental Amalgam is the result of a series of chemical reactions among its components. The starting material consists of approximately 35-42% mercury plus an “alloy” of silver, copper, tin, and other minor components. The final product—called amalgam—is a completely different material that contains a variety of complex compounds. In one sense it is similar to mixed concrete. You start with cement, sand, stone and water. The final product is concrete. You can’t get the original components back without chemically decomposing it.
• Mercury can easily be drawn out of it's 'inert' status and into the body through bacteria in the mouth, hot drinks, and other sources.  Watch this video to see how mercury interacts with aluminum.  Want to chew on aluminum foil?   /mercuryconspiracy/2015/03/mercury-aluminum-mouth.html

Safety

• The word “safe” is a relative term and requires definition. Once one makes a definition of “safe” then one can measure a material or activity against this standard.
• There is NO safe limit on mercury in the body.  Once mercury combines with carbon it turns into lethal methylmercury.  /mercuryconspiracy/2015/05/mercury-banned-in-pesticides-but-not.html
• No study has shown any harm from proper use of dental amalgam in patients. Amalgam can be subject to fracture and pieces swallowed. These are not absorbed and pass through the GI tract. Amalgam has also been aspirated on rare occasions. No harm has ensued from the material itself. Amalgam has regularly been implanted into bone during surgical endodontics without any resultant harm. Occasional minor allergies have been reported. Virtually every dental material can give rise to allergies. Amalgam is not the most allergenic of dental materials. 
• What is the most allergenic of dental materials.  Prove no harm has occured to any one.  These are ALL unproven blanket statements.  Show me a person with loads of amalgams and I will show you someone who is very ill.
• No disease or illness has ever been associated with amalgam use in patients, or from occupational use by dentists, except for rare instances of allergies. Composite resins typically contain about twenty different organic compounds, some of which are highly reactive chemicals. However,  they are present in such small amounts that no evidence of harm has been found. In short,  there is no scientific evidence that any of the currently used restorative materials are unsafe when used for approved purposes.
• Major reviews by the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Public health service have confirmed the safety of amalgam. Major consumer and patient advocacy organizations—including Consumers Union, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Association—have concluded that there is no association between amalgam and human illness.   
• Do your own research, ask friends who are ill if they have dental amalgams.  The FDA currently ignores the dangers of mercury, even allowing Coca-Cola to dump mercury into the food supply with their processing of high-fructose-corn syrup in their chlor-alkali plants.  /mercuryconspiracy/2015/04/the-mercury-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup.html

"Toxicity"

• Dose makes a poison. Even table salt can be poisonous. One can drown in simple water. No component of set dental amalgam is a known poison.
• This is absolutely ridiculous to compare table salt as a poison to mercury.  You could survive with your floors covered in salt in your house and it would cause no ill health.  Break a thermometer in a school and the building must be closed until all of the mercury is removed.  The reason remediation is so dangerous and expensive is that mercury will go right through the air and attach to living cells.  It binds easily with sulfur and carbon and can be readily absorbed through the skin.  Here's an example of how a neighborhood had to be shut down because mercury was discovered on a driveway.  /mercuryconspiracy/2015/05/mercury-spill-neighborhood-closed.html
• The ingredients of current amalgam are sold in pre-proportioned, sealed capsules. They are mixed before use. Neither patients or dental personnel are exposed to the ingredients before they are mixed. Even if the ingredients were released, the quantities are small and can be readily and safely handled without any risk.  
• What happens when the mercury is spilled onto the dental office carpet, are they still readily and safely handled?  http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Pomperaug-Regional-High-School-Evacuated-Due-to-Mercury-Spill-280512222.html
• Extreme heat and friction can decompose amalgam. This may occur during removal with rotary instruments. Proper cooling, vacuum, and ventilation eliminate any hazard.
• Claims that amalgam contains organic mercury or is converted to organic mercury are false.
• These claims are TRUE! According to Dr. Meinig, who wrote a book about research done in the early 1900s, all root-filled teeth harbor harmful bacteria. Dr. Price, a dentist who later became head of the ADA, did the early research. He advanced a theory that bacteria coming from root filled teeth can cause infections. They quasi metastacize to remote locations such as heart, bones, brain etc. These infections can become life-threatening even without mercury. [Ref.: http://www.curezone.com/dental/root_canal.html: Dr. Joseph Mercola: ROOT CANALS POSE HEALTH THREAT - AN INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE MEINIG, D.D.S. Dr. George Meinig, one of the founders of the American Association of Endodontists (Root Canal Specialists), has written the book: "Root Canal Cover-Up 
  Exposed - Many Illnesses Result."]  http://web.stanford.edu/~bcalhoun/amalgam.htm

Source of QUACKWATCH article:
http://www.quackwatch.com/02ConsumerProtection/amalgam.html

Amalgam Positive Reviews? Where are they?

When I search for positive commentary on the benefits of mercury amalgams I find none.  I only find the pro-amalgam factions disputing the anti-amalgams claims that mercury is dangerous to have implanted or injected into the human body.  Nowhere do I find any claims or scientific studies that mercury implantation or injection is beneficial

The pro-mercury faction simply says amalgam and thimerasol is safe.  They never provide the data proving it's safety, they just call people names that say mercury is an unhealthy poison.
Quack. Quacks, Quackery, brave maverick doctor.

Here is an excerpt from a science blog writer that calls himself Orac.

Similarly, there is no evidence that mercury-containing amalgams used in dental fillings is dangerous. It’s been used for a long time, and has an excellent safety record. It’s inexpensive, and versatile, and substitutes are more expensive and don’t have the same long track record of safety. Yet Adams spends paragraphs ranting about amalgams, using in essence an argument from incredulity that says that because Adams can’t conceive of how mercury in different forms could be safe, as in amalgams, or how mercury at low enough doses can also be safe. The concept of how elements can behave differently depending upon the chemical compounds with which they’re compounded is alien to Adams. To him, heavy metals are always toxic, no matter how low the dose.

So Orac, where is this excellent safety record you speak of for Amalgam fillings?

So Orac, where is the track record of safety of mercury fillings?

So Orac, when are heavy metals non-toxic?

Here is Oracs post:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/06/03/adams-turns-his-mad-science-skillz-to-analyzing-a-flu-vaccine/