From the ages of 5-12, I went to a dentist who later messed up my cousin's teeth by giving her an unnecessary retainer, causing her to need braces. She'd always had to give me 9+ shots when drilling my teeth and would say things like "It doesn't really hurt, it's just unpleasant." During the years I saw her, I got multiple amalgams, probably around 9 or so, that fell out and crumbled in my food and gum. One even fell out a week after she put it in!
Anyway, I started seeing another dentist who said that her work was sloppy and expressed concern about amalgams, saying I shouldn't let her put them in anymore. During this time, my old amalgam-pushing dentist came down with ovarian cancer, and her son was soon to follow with a rare brain stem cancer that was supposed to be incurable (he's still alive thanks to the best treatment).
Since the new dentist only worked on patients under the age of 18, I went back to the old one again about 6 years ago. She tried to persuade me to get amalgams again but finally agreed to use porcelain after some arguing.
I was just reading about a study done on dentists/dental assistants who still use amalgams which said that every one of them showed dangerously high levels of mercury upon medical testing...not just the so-called "sensitive" individuals. I was thinking about that and the fact that mercury is a known carcinogen. Could it have played a role in my dentist's cancer or that of her previously healthy 11 year old son? I'll never know, but it seems likely since she almost exclusively used amalgams on her patients for 20+ years.
I guess what I'm getting at is that I WISH I could have sued her for doing work that was "shoddy" as the other dentist called it and for the numerous times my fillings fell out. She's messed up other people's teeth before, so I really do feel the blame is on her if I am indeed suffering from mercury-induced problems. These events coincide with the onset of my fatigue, obsessive thoughts, inflamed joints, and swollen neck lymph nodes (among many other symptoms), all of which can be signs of micromercurialism (subacute mercury toxicity).
I wish more people would sue, if only to bring public attention to the issue. I say go for it! Also, does anyone know the process for obtaining dental records? Not that I want to do anything with them, I'm just curious to know exactly how many fillings I had and how many crumbled in my mouth...what a lovely thought. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/idea.gif" alt="" />
