Advice please re removal of mercury fillings an... - Thyroid UK

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Advice please re removal of mercury fillings and detoxing

Tintin0202 profile image
19 Replies

I had most of my amalgam fillings removed about 20 years ago to try to help relieve migraines, but for some reason there are a couple left. I had a blood test for heavy metals and mercury was found, so I have been advised to have the remaining amalgam removed biologically to try to lessen hypo symptoms. I found a biological dentist fairly nearby and he found that the previous dentist had not removed all the original amalgam in about 4 teeth so wants to remove it in all of them. He is a homeopath as well as a biological dentist and he suggested I take Zeolite, New Era Mineral Cell Salt Combination R, Mannatech Ambrose AO as well as something called Supergreens (seaweed) for detoxing after removal. I noticed Supergreens has a high iodine content and I said I knew that was bad for Hashi's patients. He said if I take Supergreens (mainly sea kelp) I could then reduce my levothyroxine and most other vitamins and would feel much better and he showed me reviews saying just that. I have read quite a lot about iodine from Dr Isabella Wentz and she says don't take iodine! So, your advice would be greatly appreciated -

1. Should I have the amalgam fillings removed?

2. If I do, should I be taking these supplements to detox?

Does anyone have any other advice or suggestions please? It is all getting rather costly and I feel a bit nervous about it all as he was rather laid back - although he had a very swish surgery!

Many thanks for advice.

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SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

Tintin0202

He said if I take Supergreens (mainly sea kelp) I could then reduce my levothyroxine and most other vitamins and would feel much better

Iodine solution used to be used to treat hypERthyroidism before the current radioactive iodine treatment. It can cause hypothyroidism or make hypothyroidism worse. I don't understand his reasoning and personally I wouldn't risk it.

I can't help with removal of amalgam fillings or detoxing I'm afraid. I think it has to be personal choice.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK

Bizarre - they don't say how much of anything is in New Era Mineral Cell Salt Combination R.

Lactose (milk), gum arabic, biotin, calcium fluoride, calcium phosphate, iron phosphate, magnesium phosphate, silica.

powerhealth.co.uk/new-era-c...

As a food, they have to make a clear allergy statement that they contain milk/dairy. (Just putting (milk) in brackets like that seems somewhat less than fully complying with rules as they are supposed to use different typography, explicit statements, etc.)

As an indeterminate quantity is included, you need to ensure a good gap (a week?) between taking these and many blood tests.

As they are tiny then, despite supposedly taking several a day, 4 to 8 up to three times a day, I doubt there is enough iron to have any significant impact. Also means they have to be taken well away from levothyroxine.

Yet they claim "It is quite safe to take these New Era Tissue Salt tablets alongside other medicines or supplements." - yet I've just explained why that is NOT true.

And, if they are so good, and are "traditional", why have they played about with the formulation to add biotin?

They are claimed to be based strictly on Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler's original formulations. I suggest a read here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhe...

Lalatoot profile image
Lalatoot

Tintin I agree with SeasideSusie regarding the iodine Supergreens. It was excess iodine that sent my struggling thyroid over the edge.The amalgam and detoxing must be your personal choice.

If you want my opinion read on:

The body has its own detox system built in called the kidneys and the liver. Why would you upset that balance?

To convert T4 to T3 the body needs calories and carbs. Detoxing will mean a restricted diet which will potentially reduce calories and affect T4 to T3 conversion giving a spell of being more hypo.

Never ever seen the point of removing amalgam fillings and I have a mouthful.

Never take supplements unless you know the effect they are going to have and that they are right for you. It was a bad supplement choice that led to my 'overdose' of iodine over many years.

Jazzw profile image
Jazzw

I am a big believer in leaving teeth alone if they’re not causing you any issues. Removing the amalgams will almost certainly involve removing more of your remaining tooth, weakening them, making you more prone to dental woes. Don’t do it. I’m with Lalatoot on this one—I think the whole removal of heavy metals malarkey is a great scam for unscrupulous dentists to make shedloads of money. If removal cleared up your migraines then I suspect it was more about how replacement of one filling cleared up a chronic tooth or gum infection rather than the removal of the amalgam.

What are your thyroid hormone levels like now that you’re taking liquid Levo? Are they optimal now?

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to Jazzw

must admit .. i don't normally comment on amalgam questions, but i totally agree with you and Lalatoot about the wisdom(or not ) of removing amalgams..... as more of the tooth will inevitably have to be drilled out in the process. I've got a mouthful of them and in many of mine there's just not enough 'tooth' left to do that sort of messing about without it resulting in 'not having that tooth at all'.And the process of drilling it out and disturbing it must surely increase the amount of exposure to mercury , at least in the short term ?

The only time i'm prepared to have work done on my teeth is when it becomes necessary due to an old filling failing/ cracking and so it's causing problems anyway. There's nothing that would persuade me to have someone mess with a tooth that isn't currently causing a definite problem, i'd be far too concerned about it 'becoming a problem' after they'd messed with it .

Not to mention the expense .. i find it hard enough to pay for the dentist when i do have to go .

Brightness14 profile image
Brightness14 in reply to Jazzw

I agree I started with a private dentist back in the 1970's and it ruined my perfectly good teeth doing procedures that never required doing. Now I just clean and rinse with garlic water which I make every few days from scratch. My teeth were always good and straight before using a private dentist for over 40 years.

radd profile image
radd

Tintin0202,

I would always recommend amalgam removal, and especially in those of us with hypothyroidism & methylation issues.

The chelation of the heavy metals & replacement of lost nutrients is very important but I would suggest you avoid the Supergreens with iodine. There will be an equivalent without.

I used DMSA which is quite an aggressive form of chelation that needs a binder & excretion helper. Zeolite is less potent chelator and I’m not sure of the protocols required or familiar with the other supplements your dentist has suggested.

Ambrotose AO looks good but would say you will need more than a few tissue salts and a general mix of antioxidants. If I was you I would investigate chelation techniques so you can have a complete program in place with the correct supplements before you start amalgam removal.

You can read my amalgam removal journey here which also details the common pitfalls.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Polaris profile image
Polaris

Dr Datis Kharrizian, in his book, “Why do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?”), writes about this and, as I understand it, recommends repairing leaky gut, (in chapter six), prior to chelation and running chemical hapten or heavy metal antibody tests:

“If the test comes back positive, removing the compound is one way to address Hashimoto’s. “

However, apparently,

“ although most of us have some degree of mercury in our body, not everybody’s immune system will respond to it as an infectious agent.”

He goes on to say :

“In other cases, however, liberating stored mercury with methods like chelation can exacerbate an autoimmune response.”

“When restoring integrity to the immune barriers has resulted in successful dampening of the autoimmune condition, chelation may be appropriate with careful monitoring, but perhaps not.

It is better to live in peace with mercury than permanently destroy brain tissue in an attempt to eliminate it.”.

Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012

Well my personal opinion: I asked my dentist, who I trust to tell me the truth (she did not train in the UK and has some refreshing medical perspectives).

I told her I wanted mine removed as I was concerned about links with heavy metals and autoimmune illness, including Hashimotos.

She said, if they were not degraded, she would agree I get them removed. She did stipulate that there was no firm evidence linking mercury/amalgam fillings to disease, but then just kept nodding her head when I said: but there is a debate, that exists she said some of her colleagues aren't happy to use them. However she said, mine are very degraded and taking them out would effectively ruin the tooth. The fillings are deeply sunk in.

I am quite upset about having to live with them. A close family member has 6 fillings and has developed a very rare illness. Yes I know there is no direct link etc

Tintin0202 profile image
Tintin0202

Thank you all for taking the time to reply and for your very interesting comments. Having weighed it all up I think I will leave the fillings well alone as they are not causing any trouble and I hate the thought of them being drilled down to almost nothing only to be refilled with a composite probably only to line the dentist's pocket! I think I will do a bit more research before committing to this big expense and risk of making things worse. I feel quite relieved after reading your comments as I had huge doubts, so thank you so much!

HowNowWhatNow profile image
HowNowWhatNow in reply to Tintin0202

Very old post, I realise.

But just wanted to add in case anyone else comes across this, looking for help, that my dentist (NHS, very experienced) says that removing the fillings is more likely to expose one to (more) mercury than keeping them in does. I’ve also decided to keep them in.

Agree heavily with the poster who says private dentists mess around with things too much or at any rate take a very different view to doctors who aren’t taking a profit view on their patients. Why else would they also give out Botox and such expensive teeth whitening treatments to patients on the side? Real shame we have to approach having her teeth looked at with so much caution.

arTistapple profile image
arTistapple in reply to HowNowWhatNow

My private dentist, when I discussed this with her said it was much more dangerous to expose the patient to mercury by taking the fillings out, as well as removing more of each tooth to get the fillings out. She would not recommend it. A few have had to be replaced with composite over the years and I can’t say I have noticed any ‘extra’ bother. It’s a bit like asbestos. If you leave it alone it’s ok but if you disturb it, that’s when you get problems. However I did have an NHS dentist many years ago who did many, I think unnecessary deep fillings exposing me to lots of mercury. However I was already hypothyroid and did not know it then.

Thankfully many people’s teeth are in much better condition than my generation and hopefully won’t be exposed to all this in the first place.

In Scotland one of the fathers gifts to his daughter on her wedding day, would be to pay to have all her teeth removed, so the couple could be spared the expense later! Lovely. Many of my friends fathers recommended just that, even although the NHS was well established by then. My father thought it was a terrible idea thankfully.

Hey. Hope all went all - curious how the zeolite and other supplements helped.

Just wanted to mention that there is a misinformation that iodine is bad for Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism - actually it is the contrary.

I follow a Hashi friendly diet and take 3-6 drops of iodine 5% Lugol's everyday, and this helps me manage all my symptoms with little to no flare-ups, and stopped gaining weight.

Do look into Dr Ken Berry and his wife Nurse Neisha Berry who reversed her Hashimoto's. Hope it helps.

To health!

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to

The numbers reported do vary, but a typical claim is that each drop of 5% Lugol's contains approximately 6mg iodine.

So you are taking 18 to 36 milligrams of iodine a day.

Which works out around 120 to 240 times the typical iodine requirement of 150 micrograms.

In my view, there are few things that are appropriate to take in anything like that sort of multiple of daily requirement. Even if you multiply the 150 micrograms a few-fold.

(One possible exception, vitamin B12, is largely due to issues of absorption and retention.)

We have had several members suffer when consuming iodine (whether as seaweed, fish, supplement or anything else). Including some whose thyroid issues worsened dramatically by doing so.

There is also a bit difference between people. With one issue being that those who have always had relatively low iodine intake often do much worse when increasing that significantly.

It is simply wrong to imply it is safe and desirable for people to take this sort of level of iodine. (Even if you did not mean to imply that, some will infer it from your reply.)

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to

Link to a collection of information and discussions on the subject of iodine : healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Regarding amalgam fillings, in fact they do leak slow amounts of mercury every day, and being in an area with such high absorption like the mouth, and so close to the brain and thyroid, I am not confident it doesn't affect them.I am lucky enough to not have any, but if I did I would have pulled them out even if I was gonna lose my teeth too.

If you are not sure about the thyroid implications you should research the link between amalgam fillings and Alzheimer's, and Parkinson, and heavy parasite infestations ( who do cause and maintain hypothyroidism and Hashi).

A true functional and biological dentist will not even agree to you having root canals, as it is the same problem - keeping the wrong bacteria with dead teeth has a 4 times higher risk of stroke and heart disease.

The research is out there, check for yourself

To health!

HowNowWhatNow profile image
HowNowWhatNow in reply to

What / who is a functional and biological dentist?

Are they qualified dentists who can do root canals etc but choose not to?

In my case that would have involved removing teeth and replacing them with fixations. Is that what f & b dentists prefer people have done?

radd profile image
radd in reply to HowNowWhatNow

HNWN,

'What / who is a functional and biological dentist?'

List of types of dentist here. .... rejuvdentist.com/biological....

in reply to HowNowWhatNow

Yes, they are fully qualified dentists, that choose a more holistic approach. They prefer to save the tooth if possible; if not, then yes, they try to avoid root canals due to the high 90% risk of infections and link to more than 4 higher risk of Cardiovascular disease as bacteria lingers around.

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