by Nigel Leaney
Some believe that the amount of mercury used in some dental fillings could help cause dementia. But it's only a theory...
Escaping to Manali, up in the Indian Himalayas, each morning I lifted my head from my pillow to see at the first rays of sun strike the snow-capped mountain peaks and a fast-flowing river tumbling and rushing over rocks and boulders from a melting glacier.
Since the disclosure of author Terry Pratchett's early onset of Alzheimer's disease there's been focus on possible links between the disease and the amalgam (grey) fillings that people of my generation have had their mouths stuffed with. According to one well-referenced website, dental amalgam consists of 50% mercury that leaks from the filling continuously throughout a lifetime, crossing the blood brain barrier. But there is still much dispute.
When I spoke to Professor Michael Stewart of the Open University, an expert on neurodegenerative diseases and on animal models of Alzheimer's disease, he said: "There is no direct evidence of a link between amalgams in fillings and Alzheimer's disease." His assessment was that the disease results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Call me neurotic but I still think having a highly toxic substance in your gob can't be the best thing for your health. "Mad as a hatter" came from the occupational hazard of working with the mercury.
Within a week Manali dentist Dr Pankaj Chauham had replaced all my amalgams with white composite fillings. Two minutes checking with my local dentists confirmed that what had cost me £66 in Manali would have cost over a grand in my hometown. Moreover, he managed all the drillings without any local anaesthetic and was virtually and amazingly pain free. The two dentists I checked with over here said local anaesthetics are routinely used unless the patient objects to their use.
My dentist in Manali said painkillers were not usually necessary, it was a matter of approach and technique. He was circumspect about any links between Alzheimer's and grey fillings, but felt that rather than a direct cause it could be a contributing factor.
Whatever, it was £66 well spent. My choppers feel better for it. And if it lessens the odds against one of life's cruellest exits then that's OK by me.
Nigel Leaney manages a mental health residential service
Nigel, thanks for the offer to call you neurotic.
In my opinion, on this issue, you are neurotic.
Possibly you missed the fact that the first large scale randomised control trial on the safety of mercury fillings was published in 2006? The trials found no evidence of a link between mercury fillings and mercury poisoning
(Neuropsychological and Renal Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children -A Randomized Clinical Trial David C. Bellinger, PhD, MSc; Felicia Trachtenberg, PhD; Lars Barregard, MD, PhD; Mary Tavares, DMD, MPH; Elsa Cernichiari, MS; David Daniel, PhD; Sonja McKinlay, PhD JAMA. 2006;295:1775-1783. )
You wouldn't be alone since, unlike the hundreds of scary stories and reports, this study recieved no coverage in the mainstream media whatsoever. Go figure!
I love the media. Only this year, the Observer ran a two-page spread about dementia entitled "the living death".
A major dementia charity seems to agree. In the opinion of one of its celebrity supporters, dementia "robs people of their soul". I presume the charity agrees, since it used this quote to launch it's awareness week last year.
OK, now who can we think of that are alive, but dead, and have no soul? Yes, that's right ; Zombies.
So, what have we learned in the papers so far?:
People with dementia are like zombies
Unless you have your fillings taken out you will turn into a zombie.
No wonder you flew all the way to India to have surgery, despite the evidence that:
people with dementia are not zombies
your fillings will not turn you nto a zombie
Nigel, surely dementia is only "one of life's cruellest exits" if we make it so.
No one can deny the impact of dementia on memory, on cognition and orientation, but what really impacts on the quality and enjoyment of life for people with dementia is the attitude of society and those around them.
Paulo Friere talked about the tendency of the oppressed to take on the opionions of them held by their oppressor. Someone recieving a diagnosis of dementia could be excused for imagining that their life is effectively over, given the level of stigma with which dementia is viewed.
Perhaps if we stopped describing people with dementia as the "living dead" and dementia as "the cruellest exit", we could find a way to approach dementia and those living with it as human beings with a right to their place in the human world?
....and perhaps you could expend your carbon footprint on something more pleasurable.
If someone feels that dental amalgam is a factor in dementia and has it all removed that is there decision,as for dementia robbing people of there individuality and become something less than what they were I would say that is a very good cause for concern,I do not have a life insurance policy for good reason if I felt I was losing my memories and my feelings for the ones I love I would gladly put an end to it all.