Mercury cavity fillings are outdated and dangerous for your health. Dr. Nammy Patel, founder of Green Dentistry, discusses the SMART Dentistry method for mercury removal. Listen or read more for an explanation of SMART Dentistry.
John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher. I’m here today with Dr. Nammy Patel, founder of Green Dentistry in San Francisco, California, helping patients recognize the vital connection between dental health and whole-body health. Today, our topic is SMART Dentistry. Welcome Dr. Nammy.
Dr. Nammy Patel: Hi, John. How are you?
John: Good, thanks. So, Dr. Nammy, what is SMART Dentistry? I think it actually stands for something, right?
Dr. Nammy: It does. So SMART actually stands for the Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique. And it’s actually put together by an organization called the IAOMT.
The Purpose of SMART Dentistry
John: What is it that SMART Dentistry is all about?
Dr. Nammy: So, the purpose for SMART Dentistry is to set together protocols to remove metal mercury. So metal amalgam fillings, they’re made with mercury, tin, copper — a bunch of different amalgamates. And so, when it’s removed, it’s really problematic because it actually releases mercury vapor, and mercury vapor is known to cause a lot of problems. A lot of people have neurological disorders, sometimes people have trouble digesting food. A lot of times it’s Alzheimer’s. It actually activates the Alzheimer gene. It has a lot of different problems. And with the amount of mercury that is in our food chain, the addition of mercury coming in from the mouth can have an additive effect and cause really big problems for patients.
How to Identify Mercury Fillings in Your Mouth — And What to Do About Them
John: So, I have a lot of fillings in my mouth, when I was a kid. I think the dentist that I had just did a lot of preventative type of fillings. So as soon as the little slightest hint of a cavity was starting to present itself, it was, “Okay, drill it out, fill it in.” How is your practice different? And then how would I know whether or not I have mercury fillings?
Dr. Nammy: The easiest way to tell if you have mercury filling is that you can open your mouth and see if you see any silver. If you see any silver in your mouth, you’ve probably got a mercury filling in there, and it definitely needs to come out.
John: So, who would be a good candidate for SMART Dentistry? Just anybody who has had a mercury type of filling?
Dr. Nammy: In my honest opinion, absolutely. Anybody who has a mercury filling should be removed safely. A lot of times patients will come to me because they have had a mercury removed and it’s not done with in a safe manner and it tends to cause a lot of sickness, they end up having dizziness, and it creates a whole lot more problems than what you want to have. It doesn’t cost anything more. You might have just [to] get it done the right way.
Remove Mercury Fillings the ‘SMART’ Way
John: So, talk a little bit about your way of removing it, this SMART Dentistry, Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique. How is that different, and how does that get these fillings out without causing these other side effects?
Dr. Nammy: So, the first thing that we do is we always give our patients a shot of charcoal before we get started. We isolate the tooth, there’s external oxygen, there’s also ionic filtration in the office. So that way if there’s any mercury vapor that’s released, it’s being sucked up. And we have an amalgam separator that makes sure that everything we take out is being separated. And we have a company that comes by and picks it up, so that way it’s not going back into our food chain.
The other thing that we do in our practice is, instead of drilling out the mercury, what I actually do is I chunk it, meaning I’ll make one incision and I’ll pop majority of the filling out. And that’s really beneficial because a lot of heat and mercury vapor is created in the process of drilling out the mercury. So, if we can pop them out in big chunks, we’re not really drilling. So, it’s not exposing the patient to a lot of mercury or a lot of vapor. Or in fact we’re just eliminating the vapor to begin with, and that’s my favorite way of removing mercury.
Of course, we as practitioners take precaution as well. We have special masks and protective gear that we use. Also, there’s protective gear for the patient, on their face and on their body to make sure that there’s not even a hint of a little bit of silver filling that may be mixed in with water that would go throughout the body. There’s copious amount of air and suction that’s happening throughout the entire process. So, patients can feel really safe and comfortable, to make sure that their mercury is being removed in a safe manner. We also make sure that we use non-latex gloves. We only use nitrile. And making sure that they’re not going to get any sort of allergies or anything like that.
Dangers of Mercury Fillings
John: So why do a procedure to remove my mercury fillings? Why not just leave them in there?
Dr. Nammy: If you’re sitting at rest, the mercury is not a problem. But what happens every time you have a hot cup of tea is that the tea or the hot water is going to raise the temperature of the mercury, and that mercury releases a vapor. That vapor is absorbed by your body. And what it does, it starts binding two amino acids called glutathione. When that happens, all the proteins are denatured, meaning that if our body is supposed to make an apple, it’s going to make an orange, because that DNA sequencing is just messed up at that point in time. So, it’s almost reversed. Or like a code is messed up. When the code is messed up, nothing that we want is going to work properly. And mercury has specific affinity for certain glutathione, is what we say, the amino acid, and that’s part of our DNA sequencing. So, anything that has glutathione in it will be affected.
And that’s why we hear about common side effects, which are going to be with Alzheimer’s because it activates the APOE gene. Also, with neurological disorders, because glutathione is very necessary in utilizing neurological functions. And then also ectopic pregnancy. A lot of time women can’t get pregnant because of all the mercury that’s in the mouth. Or if they do end up getting pregnant, they end up having a miscarriage.
John: Wow, that’s amazing. If I think that I might have mercury fillings and I want to have them removed, what’s my first step?
Dr. Nammy: The first step is, if you’re local, please give us a call. Or if you’re wanting to come to San Francisco, you’re welcome to come to our practice. We have people fly from all over the world. Or go to IAOMT.org. And you can find resources. You can plug in your zip code and see if you can find somebody that’s close to you who would be able to help you.
The other thing I would also recommend is make sure you are working with a naturopath to make sure that they’re doing a detox for you once a mercury is removed, because once a mercury is out of your mouth, there is going to be more released mercury out of the blood cells because, in the blood, it’s actually bound. So, your body’s going to need to find a way to eliminate it. And charcoal is really great, but IV infusions are wonderful. And so, I always say work with a naturopath to be able to do that.
John: All right, that’s great advice, Dr. Nammy. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Dr. Nammy: My pleasure, John.
John: And for more information about Green Dentistry, visit the website at sfgreendentist.com or call 415-578-9347.
