When I was a child, I felt like I was always at the dentist. Back and forth, getting filling after filling. The end result was that by the time I entered adulthood, I had a mouth full of metal fillings (10 in total!).
The good news is that I haven’t needed a filling since I was 18. The bad news is that 95% of my fillings were amalgam – you know, metal with mercury.
As I’ve learned more about the body, its systems and the effects of what we put in through my naturopathy and nutrition studies, I decided to look into what I could do about my teeth. It had always bothered me that I had so much metal in my mouth and that I never knew exactly what effect it was having on me.
Amalgam contains a combination of metals, including silver, mercury, tin and copper. And in some cases, zinc, indium or palladium are also used. I didn’t like the idea of having so much mercury in my body. Research has shown that very small amounts of mercury vapour can be released as the amalgam filling wears over time through chewing, biting and in my case, excessive grinding (yes, I grind my teeth at night – my worst habit!).
I booked a consultation with my local holistic dentist, Dr. Batavia, who took me step by step through the process of removing my amalgam fillings and replacing them with composite. Because I had so many fillings, I needed three appointments over three months, which gave me a chance to get my head around the whole process, not to mention, avoid excess jaw strain!
The process of removing the fillings is one that has been created by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, using SMART (Safe Metal Amalgam Removal Technique). In a nutshell, lots of protective layers on the areas of the mouth that aren’t being worked on, a strong air filtration system and an after care protocol that supports healing and detoxification.
I was given a supplement protocol that included Vitamin C, charcoal, vitamin E and selenium to aid healing and removal of the mercury from my systems.
It’s been three weeks since my last appointment and I’m very glad that I’ve had it done. Not only because the entire process is finished (!), but because I have the peace of mind of knowing that all of the metal is gone from my mouth!
Have you had your fillings replaced? What did you think?
Hi and thanks for sharing your experience. I have 16 fillings and 8 of them need replacing as they’re either damaged or decay has built under/around them. After doing some research I have decided I would like to remove all of my fillings. How did you decide how to space out your removal appointments as you chose to do them over 3 months instead of all at once or weekly for example? Did you feel rough after or during the appointments? When did you start detoxing? I have read that you should start detoxing before your first treatment and continue until a while after your last appointment, but then i read the opposite too! -some say if you have amalgams remaining you should wait to detox until last fillings are out! SO confusing. Google is the worst! Would love to know more about your experience. J x
Hi Jane – thanks for stopping by! I had about 8 fillings removed and I decided to space them out into three different appointments, although my dentist was willing to do it all at once. There was a limit to the amount drilling I could cope with in one session!
My dentist gave a protocol to use before and after each appointment and in between I did a lot of liver support to help things go more smoothly.
My process was really straight forward and that’s down to having a good dentist that explained everything clearly to me and respected my wish for holistic and natural techniques.
Almost two years later, I’m really happy I had it done!
Hi! I know that this is an old post but I want to ask, how are these holding up? I’m about to get quite a few teeth filled and wonder how well the composites are.
They are working great! No problems since I had the amalgam fillings removed!