The Link Between Dental Fillings and Disease

Author:  Ernie Mezei B.Sc. B.A.Sc

Mr. Mezei is a chemist and electrical engineer working in the high-tech industry in Toronto, Canada. 

NHANES III SCREENINGS – “THE WAY THINGS ARE”.  NO B.S. STUDIES.  THE TRUTH ABOUT

DENTAL FILLINGS AND DISEASE.  COST:  $120 MILLION DOLLARS TO COLLECT.

On graphs below:  None = No Fillings,  1-7 = 1 Filling, 8-16 = 2-3 Fillings, 17-33 = 4-5 Fillings, 34-up = 6 or more Fillings

(Reason is filled surfaces were used.  There are 140 filled surfaces, corresponding to all 28 teeth, in the mouth)

Preamble:  A search of the Internet confirmed that the survey used to create this paper cost $120,000,000 US Dollars to collect:

The National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces the availability of additional data files from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) These additional data files include the Household Adult Questionnaire, the Household Youth Questionnaire and the remaining Dietary files. These data files are from the full six years of the NHANES III, 1988-94 and contain nearly all the data collected in the NHANES III including the following previously released survey components: Laboratory, Physician's examination, Body Measurements, Total Nutrient Intakes, Mobile Examination Center (MEC) Proxy Questionnaire, Dental Examination, Allergy Skin Test, Audiometry, Tympanometry, WISC/WRAT Cognitive Tests, Spirometry, MEC Youth Questionnaire, Dietary Food Frequency, Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), MEC Adult Questionnaire, Bone Densitometry, Home Examination, Gallbladder Ultrasonography, Central Nervous System Function Evaluation, Fundus Photography, Physical Function Evaluation as well as selected demographic data, population weights and strata-PSU codes. The Total Nutrient Intake data has been revised to correct rounding errors in the previous release of this data. For further information call the Data Dissemination Branch at 301-436-8500. Data will be released July 28, 1997. Two months on CD ROMs will cost approximately $25. The data cost $120 million to collect. NHANES IV will be pretested in March 1998 and will be in the field by September 1998. The study will run six years, and U.S. estimates can be made with each year of data.

1.0  Introduction 

For nearly two centuries, the profession of dentistry has been at war with itself.  Now, as then, there are charges that charlatans have invaded the profession and are undermining the scientific standards upon which it is based.  Today, any dentist who removes mercury dental fillings from a patient for health reasons is charged as Unethical, and faces expulsion from the American Dental Association (ADA).  In 1850, any dentist who placed mercury dental fillings in a patient was charged as unethical and expelled from the American Society of Dental Surgeons (ASDS), the forerunner of the ADA.

The reason for this controversy is longstanding, and simple:  Mercury Dental Fillings, also known as Silver Amalgam, contain 50% Mercury, and mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive element towards human life.  However, the fact that Mercury is a poison has not been proof that Dental Amalgam is a poison, until now.  I looked at the Survivor Rates using the International Classification of Disease Codes (ICD-9-CM) from the U.S. National Health and Nutritional Exam Survey 3 (NHANES III), and found dramatic differences in dental filling rates for people suffering from a variety of diseases, as compared to the dental fillings rate in the general population.  The NHANES III sample represents 180,072,328 Adult Americans, who are the General Adult Population 17 Years of age and older between 1988 and 1994. 

I found the General Population is 22% Filling-Free, and almost all major disease groups were either Above or Below this number.  If Dental Fillings had no effect on health, all disease groups would be at 22% Filling-Free, which is clearly not the case.  

In summary, the Larger the Survivor Group for a Particular Disease (ie Circulatory Illness), the more this group is Filling-Free compared to the General Population. 

Example:  For Circulatory Disease, the Survivor Group in the United States has a size of 27,200,000.  The Filling-Free percentage is 33% in this population, the remaining 67% have Dental Fillings.  The General Population of 180,072,328 Adult Americans is only 22% Filling-Free, while 78% have dental fillings. 

I also found that the Smaller the Survivor Group, the more this group has Dental-Fillings compared to the General Population: 

Example:  For ICD Codes 340-349, “Other disorders of the central nervous system”, which includes Multiple Sclerosis, Other demyelinating diseases of central nervous system, Other paralytic syndromes, Epilepsy, Migraine, Cataplexy and narcolepsy, Cerebral cysts, and Other and unspecified disorders of the nervous system, the Population Size is 1,600,000.  In this survivor group, fully 95% have Dental Fillings, as compared to 78% in the General Adult American Population of 180,072,328. 

It is the stark increased ABSENCE of Dental Fillings in the Circulatory Disease Survivors and the simultaneous increased PRESENCE of Dental Fillings in the MS/Paralysis/Seizures/Migraines Survivors that is cause for alarm.  The General Population has a Filling Rate of 78%, and yet in these two survivor groups the filling rates are 67% and 95% respectively.  Clearly, something is occurring. 

The differences between the Large Survivor Groups and Smaller Survivor Groups are even more dramatic when you consider that the Large Groups are surviving illnesses which are acute, and often fatal.  People don’t “live” with Heart Disease like they do with Multiple Sclerosis.  Medical science today still cannot predict which people will get which illness, but we can confidently say that Dental Fillings have an impact on survival, and one key may be to remove Mercury Dental Fillings to lower your risk in both categories, Large and Small Survivor Groups. 

This discovery is based on government health data, freely available to any researcher, and can be easily verified at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/datalink.htm by downloading the NHANES III datafile, and verifying the statistical analysis which will be discussed throughout this paper for many disease groups.

2.0   SURVIVAL DATA. 

Methodology:  I did not look merely at all 28 teeth, a more granular analysis was done by looking at all 140 Tooth Surfaces as defined by modern dentistry.  Groupings were made as follows:  No Filled Surfaces, 1-7, 8-16, 17-33, 34-up.  This allowed for a fairly even distribution for the General Population in the United States (approximately 20% in each of the 5 categories, for a total of 100%).  Then the Filled Surfaces distribution was computed for each ICD Disease Chapter, Sub-Chapter, or Individual Code.  The two resulting groups (Distribution of Fillings of those who have the Disease <Yes> and Distribution of Fillings of those who do not have the Disease <No>) were then plotted.   

Note:  In all cases, the Distribution of those who don’t have the disease was nearly identical to the General Adult Population Distribution (180 Million people), as the largest chapter looked at (Circulatory System) had only 27 Million persons, as compared to its corresponding non-disease group of 157 Million.  This feature is evident as you look at all the graphs to follow, and is a powerful element of this analysis. 

2.1   Diseases of the Circulatory System 

Population Size:  27,200,000 are survivors of diseases in this category. 

ICD Chapter 7 Codes: Diseases of the circulatory system (390-459).  Includes: 

     acute rheumatic fever (390-392)

     chronic rheumatic heart disease (393-398)

     hypertensive disease (401-405)

     ischemic heart disease (410-414)

     diseases of pulmonary circulation (415-417)

     other forms of heart disease (420-429)

     cerebrovascular disease (430-438)

     diseases of arteries, arterioles, and capillaries (440-448)

     diseases of veins and lymphatics, and other diseases of circulatory system (451-459) 

Legend:  The dotted line on the graph below is the dental filling distribution of survivors who have the diseases above (Chapter 7), the solid line is the remaining U.S. Population that does not have these diseases.  The solid line is almost identical to the “norm”, as in this case it represents 153,000,000 people. 

Authors:  I found that the Survivor Group for Circulatory Disease was 33% Filling-Free, compared to 22% in the General Population and 19.5% in the Non-Disease Group. 

Conclusion:  Survivors of Circulatory Disease have a Filling-Free Rate 50% Higher than the General Population, and 60% Higher than the Group that does not have the disease. 

2.2   Diseases of the Central Nervous System - Other 

Population Size:  1,600,000 are survivors of diseases in this sub-category. 

ICD Chapter 3 - Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (320-389) 

Sub-Chapter Presented Here:  OTHER DISORDERS OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (340-349)

      340 Multiple sclerosis

     341 Other demyelinating diseases of central nervous system

     342 Hemiplegia and hemiparesis

     343 Infantile cerebral palsy

     344 Other paralytic syndromes

     345 Epilepsy

     346 Migraine

     347 Cataplexy and narcolepsy

     348 Other conditions of brain

     349 Other and unspecified disorders of the nervous system  

Legend:  The dotted line on the graph below is the dental filling distribution of survivors who have the diseases above (Chapter 3 Subchapter 3)), the solid line is the remaining U.S. Population that does not have these diseases.  The solid line is identical to the “norm”, as in this case it represents 178,400,000 people out of a total U.S. Adult population of 180,072,328. 

Authors:  I found that for the Survivor Group Other Diseases of the Central Nervous System, 95% had Dental Fillings compared to 78% in the General Population.  Only 5% of the Survivors were Filling-Free. 

Conclusion:  The General Population is Filling-Free 400% more than the Survivors of Chronic Other CNS Disease.

2.3  Review of All Diseases Screened, for Filling-Free Rates vs. Filling Rates. 

I grouped the Diseases studied from NHANES III by population, and this table shows dramatic results: 

 Note:  People can belong to more than One Disease Group (which will make them very sick indeed).

To calculate the non-disease Group size, subtract the Group Size for a specific disease from 180,072,328.

 Analysis:

1)      For Category A, the 4 Groups have a much higher Filling-Free average than the General Population.  This group includes the Symptoms Group, that special group of people who suffer from a myriad of symptoms having no organic cause.  Clearly, suffering severe symptoms combined with Dental Fillings does not bode well for survival if you are in this group.  Connective (Arthritis) and Endocrine (Pancreas) are members of this group.  Survivor Category A has far fewer dental fillings than the general population. 

2)      For Category C, the 7 Groups have a much lower Filling-Free average than the General Population.  These people suffer diseases of the nervous system, skin, reproductive system, kidneys, and tend to injure themselves at a rate far higher than the general population.  Survivor Category C has mouths full of dental fillings as compared to the average, and endures terrible suffering from the diseases of this category.

 3)      Category B looked most like the Average Filling Rates of the U.S. Population.  Interestingly, this group suffers from Digestive Problems and Mental Stress, which are the Number 1 and 2 Complaints found at Doctor’s Offices.  They are most often prescribed sedatives, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, and stomach upset medication, and told there is no cause for their complaints.  They also suffer Infections that require treatment. 

 3.0  Conclusions 

It is, for example, the stark increased ABSENCE of Dental Fillings in the Circulatory Disease Survivors and the simultaneous increased PRESENCE of Dental Fillings in the MS/Paralysis/Seizures/Migraines Survivors that is cause for alarm.  The General Population has a Filling Rate of 78%, and yet in these two survivor groups the filling rates are 67% and 95% respectively.  Clearly, instead of a “small” effect, Dental Fillings are a “massive” effect. 

This pattern repeated itself across all ICD-9-CM Codes we studied in the NHANES III data set.  It is the simultaneous ABSENCE and PRESENCE of dental fillings in Disease Survivors that was most alarming.  It has long been hypothesized, for example, that Multiple Sclerosis is caused by mercury dental fillings, but there was no proof linking the dental filling to the survivor.  The General Population is 400% More Filling-Free than the 1.9 Million Americans who suffer diseases in the MS Category. 

It is important to note that this report is a Screening of NHANES III for dental fillings rates versus disease, not a study of how mercury vapor from dental amalgam causes illness.  The statistical research company that worked as a sub-contractor on this project advises that they are concerned with such a dramatic discovery in such a short time, and urged caution.  They advised us that in the case of a Full-Blown Study of how dental amalgam causes illness, “Intervening Variables” would have to be eliminated.  In the case of this paper, what you are seeing is not a study, but a very simple screening of the most expensive health survey in human history.  NHANES III cost $120,000,000 to collect over a 6 year period between 1988 and 1994.  If this were a study (and it is not clear exactly how one would go about “studying” how dental amalgam causes illness, as that question has been going on for over 150 years), we would have to perform statistical tricks like removing the effects of age or diet from analysis to see if the statistics change (age becomes an intervening variable if it affects the results).  For example people get more fillings as they age, so if you remove the effects of age you remove fillings.  At any rate, that is not the intent of this paper, to play games with the most important health survey ever done.  The dramatic results in this paper, on the first pass of screening analysis in an area previously unexplored, are strong evidence that dental fillings are the True Intervening Variable.  The implications of this report are that current health “studies” are wrong, because dental fillings have never, ever been considered a “variable”.  Examples of this would be the Framingham Heart Study, which for 50 years studied 5,000 citizens of Framingham, MA.  Dental fillings were simply never looked at or considered a factor in human health. 

We are aware that other scientists will attempt to duplicate and challenge these screening results, but that is missing the point. The data is freely available on the Internet, and the screening was carefully done and is correct.  Anyone with a statistical analysis package can duplicate this work in 2 days.  The point is actually that dental fillings are simply making people sick, and that the most simple screening of the world’s most expensive health survey found something that looks wrong.  Ask yourself this:  Dental fillings are a physical feature.  Now when people get sick, they still have the same physical features as before, don’t they?  Two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, ten fingers, ten toes, etc.   Except for dental fillings.  The sick people have different rates of a physical feature called dental fillings than the people who aren’t sick.  The difference is, this physical feature is made of 50% mercury, unlike your eyes or ears that are made of bio-compatible materials.  That’s why what you are reading here isn’t a study.  What you are reading here is a set of screenings that are showing us The Way It Is, from a survey that cost $120,000,000.  The facts are these:  People get better from a host of health problems (as seen on 60 Minutes in 1990) when they remove mercury dental fillings, this screening now show that groups of people have different rates of dental fillings based on disease.  No other medical analysis has ever considered dental fillings as an effect, and tried to eliminate them through statistical analysis.  I have done so, and these results are evidence that the effect is strong and damaging to the health of the American People. If people did not recover from illness by removing dental fillings, I would not have done this screening in the first place.