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Tuberose.com
Information for Transformation |
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This self-help alternative medicine site offers extensive educational information on the topics of natural healing, holistic and biological dentistry, herbal medicine, cleansing and detoxification, heavy metal detox, diet, nutrition, weight loss, and the finest, tried and tested health equipment and products available for the natural management of health. |
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...if they have as few as 4 amalgam fillings present in their mouth, the average person's saliva is so high in mercury they cannot legally spit into the toilet. Their saliva exceeds the EPA maximum legal municipal discharge standard for mercury..--David Kennedy D.D.S.
Mercury is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin that poses a risk to human health, wildlife and the environment. While there has been considerable public debate about the potential health effects of mercury fillings, little attention has been focused thus far on the disposal of waste dental mercury. While mercury is a naturally occurring metallic element, human activities--including the use of dental fillings--contribute 70% of emissions into the environment. Levels of mercury in the environment have increased dramatically, with a twenty-fold increase over the past 270 years. Today, dentists are the third largest user of mercury in the U.S., consuming over 40 metric tons of mercury annually with most eventually released into the environment. In 1993, it was estimated that 150 million amalgam restorations were placed in the USA, weighing over 75 tons, by 175,000 U.S. dentists, and that there are 22 billion existing amalgam restorations that will eventually have to be removed, according to the A.D.A. The average dentist's office produces up to a kilogram of mercury waste every year, according to estimates. Environment Canada says it all adds up to about two tons of toxic material--the same amount that coal-fired power plants spew into the air.
The name "mercury-free dentist" is misleading. The so-called mercury free dentist releases enough mercury in one day to contaminate a 22,000-acre lake to above acceptable discharge levels. The largest single source of dental mercury released into the environment comes from the removal of existing amalgams from patients during dental procedures (replacement fillings, crowns, extractions, etc). Extracted amalgam materials are either rinsed down the drain--usually to a municipal wastewater system (or septic system) where it can build up in sewage sludge--deposited in biomedical waste containers destined for waste incineration or autoclaves, or placed in the trash that is later disposed in municipal waste landfills or incinerators. It is estimated when an amalgam is prepared for a filling, 10% is leftover and is often simply discarded. The "over-pack" portion is either drawn into the dental clinic's waste vacuum system or is expelled by the patient into a chair side cuspidor. But the majority of dental mercury waste is discarded into wastewater systems.
Dental clinics remain largely unregulated for mercury disposal and extracted amalgam materials are often rinsed down the drain, usually to a municipal wastewater system or septic systems, deposited in biomedical waste containers destined for waste incineration, or placed in trash disposed in a municipal waste landfill or incinerator. The American Dental Association (ADA), as well as many state dental associations, have refrained from promoting, and have even opposed mercury reduction efforts. Following the lead of the ADA, the U.S. dental establishment has consistently resisted efforts to reduce releases of mercury and follow suit with the rest of the health care establishment. The ADA refuses to encourage its members to assume responsibility for curtailing dental mercury pollution, opting instead to obstruct initiative at the state and local levels. Many countries, especially in Western Europe and Canada--and a small, but growing number of local and state governments in the U.S.--now recognize dental mercury waste as a serious environmental pollutant and are enacting both voluntary guidelines and stringent policies to curtail its release.
Studies by EPA and numerous municipalities document that most municipal wastewater treatment plants have high levels of mercury with significant contributions from dental clinics. Recently, the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) evaluated seven major municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to determine and quantify sources of mercury coming into these facilities. AT all plants, dental uses were identified as "by far" the greatest contributors to the mercury-load, accounting on average for 40% of the load, more than three times the next largest source.
There is little debate that municipal wastewater treatment systems are not designed to treat hazardous waste or reduce mercury loadings to the environment. Consequently, all mercury in the influent wastewater remains unattenuated in municipal treatment plants, and either settles out in the grit chamber or residuals (sludge, or biosolids), or passes through the system to be discharged into a downstream lake, river or ocean along with the "treated" effluent. Moreover, conditions at certain points within the wastewater treatment process are perhaps favorable for promoting methylation of mercury within the wastewater or sludge. This has the effect of converting a portion of the influent mercury into its more toxic, organic form (methyl mercury), which is also highly soluble and able to pass through the facility to the receiving water body.
Mercury amalgam particles that drop out of wastewater in the grit chamber (the initial coarse settling chamber at the front end of a treatment plant), are most commonly landfilled along with all other filtered materials. The residual sludge, which is the primary byproduct of the treatment process, is frequently incinerated. Incineration releases the mercury directly into the atmosphere as mercury vapor.
Studies indicate that as much as 95% of the mercury load to the treatment plants is released to the atmosphere during sludge incineration, with the balance discharged to a body of water or landfilled. When not landfilled or incinerated, biosolids are used in fertilizers or other soil additives. Agricultural sludge application can lead to mercury contaminated soil and groundwater, as well as direct volatilization to the atmosphere. Regulations for land application of sludge in the U.S. are far less restrictive for mercury and other heavy metals than many other countries. This practice has not been thoroughly studied and is further hindered by the fact that both state and federal agencies responsible for regulating sludge-spreading are also often responsible for promoting it.
Following years of use, the plumbing in dental offices can become significantly laden with dental amalgam. Studies show that high levels of mercury are accumulating in sewer pipes from dental offices, presenting potential liability concerns to land owners. Amalgam particles trapped in dental office plumbing and drainage pipes have been found to provide a continuing source of dissolved mercury to wastewater over time. The slow dissolution of mercury amalgam in dental office plumbing, as well as in the municipal sewer system, serves as a long-term source of mercury to the receiving facility and is eventually released to the environment.
Where no publicly operated treatment works exist, dental clinics frequently rely on septic systems for wastewater disposal. Similar to municipal treatment plants, the potential for methylation exists in the anaerobic environment of a septic tank, which can lead to the production and discharge of methyl mercury at private disposal fields. At these locations, the mercury path to the environment is more direct and the soils and groundwater surrounding the drain fields of these systems can become contaminated with mercury. Significant levels of mercury contamination have been detected both within septic tanks as well as adjacent to, and downgradient from, disposal fields receiving wastewater from dental clinics. The drain fields of septic systems receiving dental wastewater have the potential to serve as point sources of mercury contamination to the underlying and adjacent soils and groundwater, and may potentially convey environmental liability on to the property owner, and/or wastewater generator.
Mercury-bearing scrap amalgam is often discarded into the trash and leaves the dental office by solid waste hauler and is either landfilled or incinerated. The mercury in amalgam disposed in a landfill may break down over time and co-mingle with landfill leachate. Depending on the landfill, mercury may enter groundwater, contaminate underlying soils, volatilize into the vapor phase and dissipate to the atmosphere or, when landfill leachate is sent to a wastewater treatment plant, is taken up in sewage sludge that is either re-landfilled or distributed. Also, formulation and release of methane gas from landfilled mercury may contribute to production of mercury emissions within the landfill.
Waste dental mercury is often disposed into the biomedical waste container. A recent survey found that 25 to 30 percent of dentists place their contact amalgam wastes into biomedical "red bags" that are often incinerated. Medical waste is a special type of regulated waste due to the potential presence of bacteria and pathogens, which is separated and handled differently from other solid wastes. If any amalgam has come in contact with the mouth or has been removed from or with teeth, it is considered contact amalgam and is often discarded into biomedial waste. So-called "red-bag" waste is often sent to a medical waste incinerator, where the mercury is vaporized into the atmosphere. Some handlers of biomedical waste sterilize it with high temperature and pressure steam in a process known as "autoclaving." Oftentimes, these facilities operate with no emission controls or standards, which result in mercury vapor releases, and discharge of effluent to the local wastewater system following sterilization. The residuals from this process are landfilled.
A small but increasing number of dental clinics are beginning to have their mercury recycled. Where collection systems are in place, approximately 60% of all mercury-bearing amalgam waste is captured in coarse filters at chairside, and 95% or more of the mercury can be cost-effectively captured when an amalgam separator is added to the system. These programs are, in general, effective and require only a modest shift in practices, and add a very minor increase in operating expense. According to recent estimates, an amalgam separator unit capable of removing both particulates and dissolved mercury can be operated for between $47.95 - $100.00 per month.
Amalgam has been determined to be the primary source of mercury in human waste. After releases from dental offices, human wastes are the next greatest contributor of dental mercury to waste water treatment plants. In addition, amalgam fillings are responsible for additional environmental releases of mercury at the end of life. Each cremation in the U.S. accounts for, on average, one gram of mercury, due to vaporization of mercury contained in dental amalgam fillings, being released into the atmosphere.
It costs less than $50.00 a month, about the cost of placing a single filling to remove and recycle mercury from amalgams. However, only a small percentage of dentists nationwide have taken the steps necessary to reduce use and release of this dangerous toxin. Clearly, the time has come for U.S. dental associations--as other health care industry associations are already doing--to embrace the fundamental credo of "first do no harm," by taking responsibility to reduce amalgam use and mercury pollution. Environmentally responsible dental clinics reduce the use of mercury where feasible, employ best management practices and operate amalgam separators to get the highest capture rates of dental mercury. This approach protects human health and the environment while requiring only a modest, compact, and available shift in clinical practices and expenses.
The MAXIMUM Separation System is a dental amalgam separator that removes dental amalgam, thus removing mercury from dental wastewater before it is discharged into the public sewer system and the environment. A cost effective way for small and large dental offices and institutions to manage their amalgam waste is pollution reduction at the source with the use of the MAXIMUM Separation System. It has been certified to ISO 11143 standard. It can be retrofitted into existing dental vacuum systems. It is located BEFORE the vacuum pump, thus removing the amalgam waste before it is agitated by the vacuum pump impellers. This decreases the release of mercury and reduces wear on the pump.
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