Are dentists, dental assistants, and hygienists exposed to mercury poisoning from the mercury vapor when drilling an amalgam?
Rik: I’ve seen so many journal articles for and against the mercury amalgams, for and against the dangers of working with the mercury amalgams. Certainly they do put out mercury vapor. How much and how active that vapor is, is so much in the air. I will say that there is no good mercury in the body. And so as far as I’m concerned, you shouldn’t use anything that contains mercury. Even the old blocking chemicals that hat makers used to use were mercury chemicals, where the mercury was not free, but the mercury vapors were such that – you know how they said “mad as a hatter.” Remember the mad hatter in Alice in Wonderland? The mercury compounds that hat makers used to block hats would drive them insane. They caused insanity and mental breakdown. Certainly I would say that any exposure to mercury is a bad thing. Liquid zeolite has been shown to pull mercury out of the body, and that’s a good thing. Mercury and cadmium are right on top of the list. They kind of compete for the highest affi
