Whatever I have written thus far was gleaned from personal study and experience over a twenty year period. My initial motivation for studying into this matter being a desperate need to recover my own health. With time, I was greatly benefited by what I learnt and by what I applied. I will always remember a specific period of about seven years when I achieved a tremendous level of mental and physical vitality - those were truly great, super-productive and wonderfully enjoyable years - years that found me organizing health seminars and talks all over my country, years that found me running up and down mountains at the age of forty-plus, years of incredible mental clarity, years during which I enjoyed a remarkable sense of peace and well-being.

Sadly, those good years did not last. Despite my excellent diet and lifestyle, my good health and great feelings slowly started leaving me. Though I explored every avenue in an effort to discover the cause of my decline, I could find no answers.

Eventually I reached a point where I could no longer go to work, where I could not sleep for more than three hours a night, where concentration became a real effort, where I could not deal with even slightly stressful situations, where my memory failed me continually, where depression held me in its cruel grip, where I had a strange longing to die - for no apparent reason, and where any kind of social engagement beyond my immediate family put me under tremendous pressure. Where in the past I had loved lecturing and mixing with people, I literally reached a point where I felt that I would have to become a recluse.

Then, three years after it all started, and some R50,000 later, a friend just happened to lend me a book that described the symptoms of mercury poisoning - and they matched my most prominent symptoms perfectly. Seeing that I had one and a half teeth in the back of my mouth that had been built up with silver/mercury amalgam - probably the equivalent of 20 to 30 average fillings - this certainly was a possibility worth investigating.

Thus I began a period of intensive study that culminated in a request to my dentist to remove all the silver/mercury restorations from my mouth. Somehow he managed to persuade me that the precautions that I suggested were not necessary and, as a result, I swallowed a large proportion of the drilled out and vaporized mercury amalgam. Little did my dentist or I realize at that point in time that what I was swallowing was the most poisonous, non-radioactive substance in the world - more poisonous than lead, cadmium and even arsenic.

Now my troubles really started, and now my symptoms really became serious. In fact, I literally started dying by degrees. In desperation I searched the internet, I read every book I could lay my hands on, and I contacted everyone I could locate who had some experience with mercury poisoning, A specialist in heavy metal toxicity even remarked that if it were not for my healthy lifestyle and diet I would most surely have become as mad as a hatter.

(Hatters used to suffer a high incidence of insanity caused by the mercury used to make animal fur into felt for hats - hence the expression - `as mad as a hatter.')

Eventually, in a very poor physical state, not having slept properly for five years, I landed up in Mexico, where Drs. Huggins, Morales and associates removed all possible sources of toxic poisoning from my mouth - including nickel based crowns, three root canals - all three of which were infected (most root canals become infected and can become a major threat to health), - and a number of cavitations. Cavitations are hidden cavities within the gums. They come about when a tooth is extracted in the routine `tug-and-leave' fashion - without removal of the ligament surrounding the tooth. This cavity in the gum is known to become the dwelling place for some of the most toxic anaerobic bacteria known to man.

Within one week of this extensive oral `clean-up,' my nerves stabilized, the depression left me, and my energy levels improved tremendously. Within two weeks I was back at work, and even enjoying the experience. It is now three months since our return from Mexico and, though I still have some considerable way to go, the improvement has been quite phenomenal. Those in the know tell us that full recovery from mercury poisoning can take six years or longer, if full recovery is in fact possible, so I guess I need to be patient.

While in Mexico, my wife had all of her mercury/amalgam fillings removed and, though she was not suffering from any aggravating symptoms prior to this, she now wakes up feeling energetic and fresh, her nervous system has stabilized remarkably, and she has noticed a marked improvement in many aspects of her life. Like millions of others in this world, my wife thought that the way she felt prior to the removal of her mercury amalgam fillings was simply the way she was meant to feel for her age - little suspecting that her entire system was being burdened by a deadly poison that had been implanted in her teeth.

Today scientists and enlightened dentists the world over are warning that silver/mercury fillings, made up as they are of plus/minus 50% mercury, are a dangerous source of systemic poisoning. As two highly respected physicians warn us . . .

`Indeed, there is no question that mercury vapor escapes with time from the surfaces of amalgams. There is definite evidence that mercury is shunted quickly from the blood and deposited in all organ tissues around the nervous system and brain.' (Dr. H.R. Casdorph, M.D., Ph.D., & Dr. M. Walker, D.P.M., Toxic Metal Syndrome, pp. 156, 146)

More and more respected scientists are now linking amalgam-related mercury toxicity to Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Allergies, Multiple Sclerosis, and many other very serious ailments - (see Part 2) and most of those who are suffering from these dreadful complaints have no idea that the cause might just be inside their mouths.

Collectively Drs. Casdorph, Walker, Huggins, and others, list the following as some of the more common symptoms of mercury poisoning - according to various sources, any combination of these symptoms could indicate mercury toxicity - anaemia, anxiety, a sensitive tongue, bad breath, bleeding gums, bronchitis, chills, colitis, coughing and nausea, depression (visit this link), drowsiness, erratic behaviour, excessive shyness and embarrassment without cause, fatigue, fever, flu-like discomforts, forgetfulness, gingivitis, hallucinations, high blood pressure, inability to cope with stress, inability to make decisions, increased sensitivity to sounds and light, insomnia, irregular gait, irritability, joint pains, loss of appetite, loss of self-confidence, low blood sugar, loosening of teeth, memory loss, mental disturbances, metallic taste, mouth sores, nervousness, numbness, nutritional disturbances, outbursts of temper (which is also linked to certain drugs and/or the eating of food that has been cooked in aluminium pots), paralysis, resentment of criticism, self-consciousness, shaking, social phobia, sore throat, stomach pains, suicidal thoughts, timidity, trembling, urinary frequency or irregularity, visual changes, vivid dreams, and vomiting.

[Visit this link if you are in any way associated with someone who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, autism, Parkinson's disease, or if you are considering a flu vaccine or having a child vaccinated.]

Dr. Michael Colgan, Ph.D., CCN, one of the world's top nutrition scientists, tells of a weightlifter who was overcome by mercury poisoning. This normally confident individual became embarrassed and mad when people looked at him. As Dr. Colgan explains:

`The most insidious symptom was his loss of confidence, something you would think was entirely mental. No way. Mercury poisoning attacks the brain, to cause a condition marked by shyness, fearfulness, and timidity. It can reduce the strongest athlete to a frightened mouse.' (Optimum Sports Nutrition, p.68)

If you are plagued by any of these symptoms, please do not rush off as I did and have your mercury fillings removed. There is a special procedure that has to be followed and special precautions must be taken - and you simply have to find a dentist who acknowledges the dangers and who will be willing to take the necessary precautions. Please DO NOT allow any dentist to work on your mouth unless he is going to respect your wishes in this regard.

In the United States mercury has now been banned from use in interior latex paints and it has even been banned from use in the switching mechanism of children's running shoes - those shoes with lights in the heel - because the shoes will ultimately end up on a landfill and the mercury will eventually leak into and poison the subterranean water supply. You can only imagine how poisonous mercury must be for the U.S. health authorities to take such steps!

Isn't it strange that we are not allowed to use mercury in shoes, and yet dentists are allowed to implant it in our teeth?

Mercury is so poisonous in fact that the Environmental Protection Agency (USA) has now declared scrap dental amalgam a hazardous waste. What this means is that dentists are no longer permitted to throw scrap amalgam in the waste basket, or even to bury it in their gardens. The toxic nature of mercury amalgam is such that the American Dental Association (ADA) was forced to issue the following warning . . .

`Dentists should alert all personnel who handle mercury about the potential hazards of mercury vapour and the need for good mercury hygiene practices. All amalgam scrap should be salvaged and stored in a tightly closed container. Handling amalgam requires extreme caution and a "no-touch" technique should be employed.' (American Dental Association News, September 7, 1981)

`I don't feel comfortable using a substance designated to be a waste disposal hazard. I can't throw it in the trash, bury it in the ground, or put it in a landfill, but they say it's okay to put it in people's mouths. That doesn't make sense.' (Alternative Medicine, p. 85)

In the words of Charlie Brown, president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry,

 "Amalgam is a primitive, polluting, 19th century product that began when physicians were sawing off legs. Medicine has since moved forward." Unfortunately, this aspect of dentistry has not, at least not yet in the United States"

For those of us who understand that disease is an effort of Nature to remove toxic impurities from the system, it is more than obvious that the very last thing we need in this world is to have a deadly toxic substance implanted in our teeth - one that would force our immune system into a 24-hour-a-day defensive reaction, weaken our immune defenses, sap our energy reserves for 24 hours a day, and contribute 24 hours a day to the level of impurities in the system.

The challenge we face, however, is to get the dental profession to admit that there is a problem. Most dentists have only done what they were taught to do, and this they have done very well, with every good motive and intention, but the problem is with what they have been taught - coupled with an understandable unwillingness to acknowledge that dentistry might well be guilty of one of the biggest blunders in medical history. If ever they do acknowledge this fact, of course, they will face a class-action law suit that will last from now into eternity - so do not expect any such acknowledgement.

Nevertheless, one of the world's most urgent needs is for the manual on dentistry to be radically and urgently rewritten for, the way things are at present, and according to professional opinion, . . .

`Organized Dentistry is probably the most dangerous of all the human healthcare professions.' (Dr. H.R. Casdorph, M.D., Ph.D., & Dr. M. Walker, D.P.M., Toxic Metal Syndrome, p. 130)

As much as we do not want to believe this, more and more professionals are warning that . . .

`The role the dentist plays is directly or indirectly related to the etiology [cause] of a large number of diseases, some occurring at sites far distant from the teeth. This role is becoming more significant as dentists continue to fill teeth with amalgam and alloy materials.' (Dr. F. Fuller Royal, M.D., H.M.D., The Townsend Letter For Doctors, May 1990)

Experience has shown, however, that some dentists will respond to any suggestion that mercury is dangerous by glibly stating that it is all fanatical raving - "absolute rubbish"' - "unscientific" - "has no basis in scientific fact," or that it is such a small problem that it is not worth worrying about, or that the advantages of using silver/mercury amalgam far outweigh the disadvantages - and so on. One very popular theory is that only a few people have an allergic reaction to mercury. This is like saying that only a few people will die from a lethal dose of arsenic. Mercury is poisonous to all people. Every extra filling in the mouth will add to the burden on the system - and will constitute a toxic time-bomb. You may not feel any noticeable difference for a while, but when your immune system is undermined by factors such as stress, burn-out or trauma, your body might lose its ability to keep your mercury levels in check - then, as happened in my case, your troubles will really begin.

Proceed To Dental Miscue - Part 2: Part 2 was not included in the original manuscript.

Proceed To Chapter 13: In the next chapter we will be looking at yet another medical tragedy - this time in the field of psychiatry.