Well, I'd say working around that stuff daily would have to do something to a person over time. I heard that there are dentists who have had to quit their job because of mercury vapor. Some were not able to enter a dental office again!

I know of a dentist who was very nice, but very gentle and quite timid. his old time assistant was just the same and both of them used to chew thier finger nails down to the quick. They were so nervous all the time. She was nice, but very emotional and shaky and he was just nervy. It may have been "them", but I often wonder whether working with mercury would do that to anybody however confident and strong.

A doctor in the US Dr paula Bickel (bickle?) talks to doctors/dentists on mercury toxicity. she is very well versed in this and she even admitted that when she address a conference of dentists, she has to dumb her speech down so they will be able to understand and take in details. That is not an insult to their intelligence, she said it's part and parcel of working with mercury and what it does to the mind and the way a person takes in information.

Kind of scary when you consider they are working on your teeth. I know that most dentists I have been in touch with, forget just about everything I have talked about and i have to constantly remind them.

My dental nurse at my primary school was awful. Extremely moody, cranky, and I just dreaded going to her. I wonder too, was she affected? They did test in my country about mercury and dental nurses and the results were very telling. About how many of them had miscarriages, psychological problems, reproductive problems, birth problems, the whole deal. It was far too prevalanet among them to dismiss it as being a coincidence.