1. Amalgam Excellent handling properties High strength,Expansion,Durable,Direct technique Cheap Ease of use Damages human health?—Toxicologically? Galvanic action? Hypersensitivity Environmentally a disaster

4. Composition of amalgam 50% Mercury 35% Silver 13% Tin 2% Copper and Zinc

5. First concerns over amalgam toxicity Mercury as a chemical component Galvanic actions Hypersensitivity to amalgam

6. Mercury release from dental fillings

7. Tissues uptake of mercury from dental fillings. What tissues are affected All of them

8. International research concluded “ Mercury from restorations constitutes the largest non occupational source of mercury in the general population, being greater than all environmental sources combined.” W.H.O. environmental health criteria Inorganic mercury 1991.

9. Pathophysiological consequences

10. Revision ! Homeopathic mercury what do we know about the proving

11. Should we remove amalgam. THE CONUNDRUM Patient selection Patients request

13. Removal and safe protocol. Diet Remedies Dental technique

15. Perhaps a thousand years on from now historians will draw a similarity between the chronic lead poisoning of the Roman Empire and the insidious mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings.