James-

For any opinion out there, you can find the exact opposite opinion. Therefore, you need to be the judge yourself and decide what removal methods makes sense to YOU. If you go through life letting others make your decisions, you will end up unhappy and broke.

Here's what makes sense to me:

Rubber dams should be used. It makes sense. I have seen many dentists who claim to be mercury free gurus, and yet they refuse to use a rubber dam. WHY?? Because rubber dams make THEIR job more difficult. Meanwhile YOU get exposed to more mercury.

* many benefits really only benefit the dentist, and cost you health and money.

I read of a dentist who used an actual vacuum cleaner or shop vac to suck the amalgam vapors/mercury out of the patient's mouth, blowing it outside the window. That would work better than any tiny overpriced dental gadget that claims to suck up all of the mercury. That's my kind of dentist who uses his head and makes sense!

Oxygen supply should be used. An oxygen mask on the patient doesn't protect the dentist so most dentists don't want to be bothered using it.

What doesn't make sense to me?

Quadrant removal order, filling removal order, refusing to chelate before amalgams are removed. All this stuff is spewed all over these forums but they make absolutely no sense to me, partly because no one has explained the exact reasoning behind these dogmas. Dentists who charge insane amounts use these methods to make multiple appointments and to puff up the sales pitch, or just to make them seem more knowledgeable about their procedures.

Dentists are salesmen. Most will make all sorts of claims and "puff" their marketing with "flair and balloons" like a used car salesman to justify the prices they charge. Personally I don't give a rats [censored] if the dentist has a huge waiting room, a tv with stereo surround sound, aroma therapy, mandibular massaging, marble flooring, micro video capability, Sharper Image air purifiers, and all of the other flair to sell people on image and flair instead of function. I don't need to spend $400 for an initial appointment so the dentist can spend 2 hours lecturing me on how bad mercury is for me. The gall some of these dentists have when they are preying on desperate and sick people. That $400 doesn't translate into value for you, it is $400 because that's what the dentist can charge. If he has a backlog of patients for months, he can start refusing patients, or just raise the price to $400 until some patients go away. That's capitalism/marketing for you - good for the dentist but not necessarily good for you.