Heavy gum chewers risk breaking down the amalgam in their dental fillings and having dangerously high levels of mercury in their blood and urine as a result, a study published in the Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet on Friday said.
The study was undertaken by the Sahlgrenska university hospital in Gothenburg, west Sweden.
"In our study we found out that people who chewed gum for at least five hours per day had significantly higher mercury levels in their urine and blood," medical researcher Gerd Saellsten was quoted as saying.
The test group included 17 people with at least five amalgam fillings who chewed gum an average of five hours per day, and consumed seven pieces of gum.
The test group was compared with a control group of equal size comprising people with the same number of fillings, but who chewed gum only 30 minutes per week on average.
A comparison of quicksilver levels between the two groups yielded clear differences.
The heavy gum chewers had twice the amount of mercury in their blood and three times the level in their urine and breath exhalation than did the infrequent chewers.
The mercury levels rose in proportion to the number of amalgamfillings the subjects had, the study showed.
Mercury damages the following in humans:
Obviously, newspaper studies are not the top of the line peer-reviewed journals, but I thought it would be helpful to include this story to remind those of you who may not be familiar with this issue.
The problem is not just with chewing gum. Although, chewing gum is one of the most foolish things one can do nutritionally due to reasons totally unrelated to mercury.
There are nerves which connect the jaw to the stomach and when one chews the pancreas is stimulated to release digestive enzymes to aid in the digestion process. When one chews gum all day long these enzymes are simply wasted and one's ability to absorb food is compromised. Additionally, the chewing can worsen and TMJ problems that many people in our culture have due to the terrible OB paradigm in traditional medicine.
Back to mercury though, there are nifty meters one can use that are very sensitive to mercury vapors. Many biological dentists have these devices and can actually show you the mercury that is released when you chew anything if you still have amalgams in your mouth.
Don't let your traditional dentist fool you. Mercury is a poison and it has absolutely no health reason to be in your mouth. None! It is an excellent restoration material however, it is relatively inexpensive and lasts for decades. This is far better than many of the composite alternatives.
BUT, mercury will slowly kill you, so is it worthy it? I think not, but everyone gets their own choice. I did not wake up and smell the coffee burning until five years ago when I had all my amalgams replaced with composites.
Don't make the mistake I made though. I started the process ten years ago and had half of my amalgams replaced with gold crowns. Well, these gold crowns formed a battery in my mouth and increased the release of mercury by over 200%! You really do not want any metals in your mouth for this reason. The battery effect (electrogalvanism.
Even if you don't have any amalgam fillings the electricity created by metals in your mouth will adversely affect your brain's ability to function optimally.
Also ONLY see a dentist who is properly trained in removing mercury fillings. If they don't appreciate mercury toxicity they will not implement special precautions, like room air to you by nasal cannula, rubber dams and high pressure suction to suck out the mercury vapors that are released by drilling.
The last thing you want is mercury in your brain as a result of taking your fillings out. And that is exactly where it will go, to your brain. Mercury vapor is HIGHLY permeable and it will go through your skull bone like a hot knife through butter. It won't even blink twice. And it will stay there firmly bound to sulfur proteins in your brain causing damage to the microtubules that nourish your brain cells.
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