MD, PhD, MAE, FMedSci, FRSB, FRCP, FRCPEd.

During the last decades, the sales-figures for so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) have been increasing steadily and substantially. A recent report predicts this trend to continue:

… The global market for alternative and complementary medicines is projected to experience substantial growth in the next few years. The rising expenditure of the healthcare facilities is considered as the major factor that is likely to encourage the growth of the overall market in the coming years. In addition, the increasing number of initiatives being taken by Governments across the globe to promote alternative and complementary medicines is projected to accelerate the market’s growth. Thanks to these factors, the global alternative and complementary medicine market is likely to exhibit a promising growth rate in the near future.

A significant rise in the number of initiatives by NGOs and government organizations to encourage the use of alternative and complementary medicines is estimated to bolster global market in the near future. In addition to this, technological advancements in this field and the rising inclination of consumers towards these medicines and practices are likely to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the leading players operating in the alternative and complementary medicine market across the globe. However, the lack of scientific results is expected to hamper the overall growth of the market in the next few years…

From a regional perspective, Europe is considered as one of the leading segment, thanks to the significant revenue contribution in the last few years. This region is expected to account for a large share of the global alternative and complementary medicine market with the rising use of botanicals. In addition to this, the increasing awareness among consumers regarding the availability of effective alternative and complementary medicines and the benefits they offers are expected to encourage the growth of the Europe market in the coming years.

Furthermore, with the rising popularity of medical tourism, the alternative and complementary medicine market in Asia Pacific is projected to witness a steady growth in the next few years. Moreover, the presence of a large number of new players operating in this region is likely to offer promising growth opportunities over the forecast period. The Middle East and Africa segment is anticipated to experience a healthy growth in the alternative and complementary medicine market in the near future.

The global market for alternative and complementary medicines is presently at a highly competitive stage and is predicted to experience an intense level of competition among the leading players in the coming years. The prominent players in the market are focusing on the expansion of the product portfolio so as to attract a large number of consumers across the globe. This is likely to help them in creating a brand name and acquiring a leading position in the global market. Some of the leading players operating in the alternative and complementary medicine market across the globe are Herb Pharm, Yoga Tree, Quantum Touch Inc., Helio USA Inc., Pure encapsulations, Inc., Pacific Nutritional Inc., Deepure Plus, Herbal Hills, Iyengar Yoga Institute, The Healing Company, and Nordic Naturals.

Yes, I know, this is little more than hot air mixed with platitudes and advertisements to purchase the full report. I used to buy such documents for my department and research but was invariably disappointed. They provide are expensive and of very little of value.

Yet, one thing has been confirmed over the years: the prediction of steady growth of the SCAM-industry is rarely wrong (certain sections, such as homeopathy, have been shrinking in some regions, but the industry as a whole is financially healthy). The scientific evidence seems to get less and less convincing, yet consumers buy more and more of these products. They may do little good and have the potential to cause quite a bit of harm, but consumers continue to waste their money on them.

The question is: why?

There are, of course, many reasons. An important one is that the gullible public wants to believe in SCAM, and the SCAM-industry is highly skilled in misleading us. What is worse: many governments, instead of limiting the damage, are mildly or even overtly supportive of the SCAM-industry.

Whenever I contemplate this depressing state of affairs, I realise that my blog is important. It is only a drop in the ocean, I know, but still…

 

 

 

150 Responses to So-called alternative medicine is a paradise for investors

  • I think one factor in the unstoppable growth is how it is for practitioners, even potentially well-meaning ones, to realise they were duped and have paid out thousands for trainings in bogus modalities that use non-existent mechanisms for non-existent physiological processes.

    • I think it’s obvious that no one here has been to see a great alternative medicine place or Doctors… because if you did this guy wouldn’t be writing about it as a scam and you all wouldn’t be talking about us as gullible… they are serious and great doctors out there that have left their practices for Alternative medicine because they couldn’t continue managing sicknesses… People are getting cured e.g.: Dr. Gundry, Cardiologist and inventor of the artificial heart and Dr. Jason Fung a nephrologist from Canada… and like that many… i know they are fakes out there but so are Doctors… sorry as things are going in the future doctors/hospitals will be there for broken bones and operations. The science is moving super-fast in confirming the fantastic self-healing and natures healing powers. And you can laugh all you want to but he who laughs last…

  • The General Public GP is really the Gullible Public GP. The local governments in SEAsia have also bought into the idea of AM. Am is not cheap. Yet the GP is really the GP.

  • @Ernst

    Rather than be depressed over wasted time & your lack of influence, why not retire and travel more?

    • who said I was depressed, sweetie?
      If I were, I only needed to read your comments – they regularly make me laugh out loud.

    • We’ve been saying the same about you for years, Sandra. At what point will it dawn on you that your howling into the void is doing absolutely nothing? Your ongoing exercise in highly-vocal insignificance is nothing more than a source of amusement as we repeatedly point out where and why you are wrong and you refuse to learn from it.

      • @Lenny

        Still think amalgam fillings are safe a patient’s teeth, but not in waste water?

        From Lennny on Tuesday 20 March 2018 at 20:28

        I rarely use amalgam. All amalgam is encapsulated. There is no evidence of harm to either patient or operator from Hg vapour when placing or removing amalgam restorations and as such no mandatory safety requirements are in place. All suction systems have to be fitted with an amalgam separator to prevent pulverised amalgam from entering waste water where it can theoretically leach Hg into the sea and become concentrated in the flesh of oily fish from where it becomes capable of absorption by humans in their diet.

        I am not going to contribute further to this discussion. The nuances of Hg absorption and the varying toxicities of the commonly occurring organomercury compounds is pointless to discuss with someone who won’t be able to understand it.

        • Can you describe the “rare occasion” when, as a dentist (not a metallergist) you think it’s okay to use amalgam?

          https://edzardernst.com/2018/03/ayurvedic-medicines-to-die-for/

        • @Sandra

          You obviously didn’t understand my original reply and still don’t have a clue about biochemistry.

          I am not going to contribute further to this discussion. The nuances of Hg absorption and the varying toxicities of the commonly occurring organomercury compounds is pointless to discuss with someone who won’t be able to understand it.

          And I could describe how and why I use amalgam on the rare occasions that I do, but you wouldn’t understand it because it’s complex dentistry and you’re not a dentist. And because you’re too pig-thick.

          • @Lenny

            My ability to understand your answer has nothing to do with your inability to explain the process, or the rationale behind your contention that mercury amalgam fillings are safe. Sadly, dentists like you don’t realize you’ve been duped. Such a sad tragedy.

            Lenny on Wednesday 21 March 2018 at 07:45

            …. Sandra. I’d like to invite you into my surgery to diagnose caries, prepare a cavity and then restore it with amalgam.

          • Sandra

            The only person duped was you. By the proven quack Hal Huggins who made his fortune by preying on the vulnerable. You were one of his marks. He persuaded you that were being poisoned by your amalgam fillings. You believed that they were killing you. He deceived you, and many others. It’s why he lost his license. He was a criminal. And you were one of his victims. That you cannot accept this is your problem, not mine.

            Has there been anyone anywhere ever documented as being killed by their amalgam fillings?

            No.

            Either you’re utterly unique in your suffering, Sandra, or you’re a deluded foo. I know which is the most probable.

            No evidence or explanations I provide – and I have previously supplied plenty – will convince you that amalgam is a safe material because you have already demonstrated repeatedly your inability to understand science and evidence. Your half-baked opinions are all that count in your mind. And your opinions are irrelevant to science. Crawl back into your nasty little echo-chamber of insignificance and stay there, please.

        • Sandra
          In World War I, chlorine gas used in warfare. It is a very nasty chemical with a greenish- yellow color. Very toxic stuff that killed and caused horrible suffering to the soldiers. It is therefore forbidden in warfare. Chlorine is a compoent of many toxic chemicals like bleaching agents, hydrochloric acid and horrible, insecticides such as DDT. Can you tell us if, when and how it is ok to use chlorine in any form for food or medicine?

        • The nuances of Hg absorption and the varying toxicities of the commonly occurring organomercury compounds is pointless to discuss with someone who won’t be able to understand it.

          Late to the hilarity, I know, but I have to say this line is howlingly funny, coming as it does from a glorified medical typewriter with delusions of competence who firmly believes that Homeoquackery is real.

          Even Paracelsus is ROTFLing at you, and he’s been dead for 500 years.

          • @has

            Actually I wrote that to Sandra. She’s not capable of coming up with anything that coherent.

          • @Lenny: Dammit, my bad. I should’ve realized that Sandra can’t quote either. Remind me: is there anything the incompetent boob can do right, so I know what to look out for in future?

            (I don’t expect it to be a large list; I imagine her medical transcriptions looked something like this.)

          • @has

            She does high-handed pompous pearl-clutching very well. And I’ve not seen anyone with quite the same mastery of Dunning-Krugerism. Ghoulish hounding of the recently bereaved is another particular skill, as is stalking on Twitter from behind a block.

      • Hello Lenny. Would you please provide me some good reference material for “Evidence Based Dentistry”‘. Books or journal articles would suffice.

        • @GibleyGabley

          As a dentist, other than spoon fed opinion statements from member dental societies about the supposed safety of mercury amalgam fillings, Lenny cannot provide you with the information you seek. (He may mention your lack of education, or ability to understand). Ignore him. The key to understanding is knowing where to look. See below. There are so many more publications by scientists, toxicologists, environmentalists, & clinicians, not just dentists.

          Bernhoft, R. A. (2011). Mercury toxicity and treatment: a review of the literature. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2012.

          Camisa, C., Taylor, J. S., Bernat Jr, J. R., & Helm, T. N. (1999). Contact hypersensitivity to mercury in amalgam restorations may mimic oral lichen planus. Cutis, 63(3), 189-192.

          Clarkson, T. W., Magos, L., & Myers, G. J. (2003). The toxicology of mercury—current exposures and clinical manifestations. New England Journal of Medicine, 349(18), 1731-1737.

          Clarkson, T.W. and Magos, L. (2006). The toxicology of mercury and its chemical compounds. Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 36(8), 609-662.

          Echeverria, D., Aposhian, H. V., Woods, J. S., Heyer, N. J., Aposhian, M. M., Bittner, A. C., Mahurin, R.K. & Cianciola, M. (1998). Neurobehavioral effects from exposure to dental amalgam Hgo: new distinctions between recent exposure and Hg body burden. The FASEB Journal, 12(11), 971-980.

          Health Canada. (1996). The Safety of Dental Amalgam. Retrieved from Health Canada Web site http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/alt_formats/hpfb-dgpsa/pdf/md-im/dent_amalgam-eng.pdf

          Kall, J., Robertson, K., Sukel, P., Just, A. (2016a). International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) Position Statement against Dental Mercury Amalgam Fillings for Medical and Dental
          Practitioners, Dental Students, Dental Patients, and Policy Makers. ChampionsGate, FL: IAOMT.

          Kall, J., Just, A., Aschner, M. (2016b). What is the risk? Dental amalgam, mercury exposure, and human health risks throughout the lifespan (Chapter 7). Epigenetics, the Environment, and Children’s
          Health across Lifespans. David J. Hollar, ed. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 159-206.

          Klassen CD, editor. (2008). Casarette & Doull’s Toxicology (7th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical, 949.

          Lorscheider, F. L., Vimy, M. J., & Summers, A. O. (1995). Mercury exposure from” silver” tooth fillings: emerging evidence questions a traditional dental paradigm. The FASEB Journal, 9(7), 504-508.

          Magos, L., & Clarkson, T. W. (2006). Overview of the clinical toxicity of mercury. Annals of Clinical Biochemistry, 43(4), 257-268.

          Rice, K. M., Walker, E. M., Wu, M., Gillette, C., & Blough, E. R. (2014). Environmental mercury and its toxic effects. Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, 47(2), 74-83.
          Richardson, G. M., Wilson, R., Allard, D., Purtill, C., Douma, S., & Graviere, J. (2011). Mercury exposure and risks from dental amalgam in the US population, post-2000. Science of the Total
          Environment, 409(20), 4257-4268.

          Risher JF. (2003). Elemental mercury and inorganic mercury compounds: human health aspects. Concise International Chemical Assessment Document 50. Geneva, Switzerland: Published under the joint sponsorship of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Labour Organization, and the World Health Organization.

          Rooney, J. P. (2014). The retention time of inorganic mercury in the brain—A systematic review of the evidence. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 274(3), 425-435.

          Rothwell, J. A., & Boyd, P. J. (2008). Amalgam dental fillings and hearing loss. International Journal of Audiology, 47(12), 770-776.

          Syversen, T., & Kaur, P. (2012). The toxicology of mercury and its compounds. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 26(4), 215-226.

          United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (02/09/1994). Hazard Communication. Publication Type: Final Rules; Fed Register #: 59:6126-6184;
          Standard Number: 1910.1200; 1915.1200; 1917.28; 1918.90; 1926.59.

          United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). (Last updated January 15, 2016). Health effects of exposure to mercury: elemental (metallic) mercury effects. Retrieved from
          https://www.epa.gov/mercury/health-effects-exposures-mercury#metallic

          World Health Organization. (2005). Mercury in Health Care: Policy Paper. Geneva, Switzerland: Department of Protection of the Human Environment Water, Sanitation and Health.

          Journal of Environmental and Public Health
          Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 460508, 10 pages
          http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/460508

          “Approximately 80% of metallic mercury vapor outgassed from amalgams is absorbed through inhalation [10, 14, 15], compared with about 7 to 10% absorption of ingested metallic mercury [5], and about 1% absorption of metallic mercury through skin contact [5].

          In addition to the brain [16, 19–26], metallic mercury is also deposited in the thyroid [5, 19, 21], breast [27], myocardium [28, 29], muscles [5, 21], adrenals [5], liver [5, 30–32], kidneys [5, 7, 8, 19, 20, 23, 30–32], skin [5, 7, 8], sweat glands [5], pancreas [5], enterocytes [5, 30], lungs [5, 23, 30], salivary glands [5], testes, and prostate [5] and may be associated with dysfunction of those organs. Mercury also has affinity for binding sites on the surface of T cells and for sulfhydryl groups influencing T cell function [33, 34]. Mercury deposits readily in placenta and fetal tissues and is found in breast milk. [5, 18, 31, 35”

          • Linking to the work of loons like Robin Bernhoft and the rest does you no favours, Sandra. But aside from that, let’s have a look at the Canadian paper which approaches the matter in a balanced, sensible and scientific manner. What does it say?

            1 Dental amalgam contributes
            detectable amounts of mercury to the body,
            and is the largest single source of mercury
            exposure for average Canadians. However,
            this exposure is not causing illness in the
            general population.

            2 Current evidence does not indicate
            that mercury contributes to Alzheimer’s
            disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
            multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease.

            Hardly a ringing endorsement of your position that everyone is being poisoned, Sandra.

            And have you managed to find that documented evidence of anyone being killed by their fillings?

            We’ll wait.

        • @GableyGabley

          Good info published by the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology here:

          https://iaomt.org/wp-content/uploads/Fact-Sheet-Mercury-Vapor-Toxicity.pdf

  • What a joke. CON-Med (conventional medicine) finds a “cure” for cancer every year and the NIH and everyone else throws Billions at them, and somehow the cures never pan out. The cure never comes and the cancer deaths keep mounting up. The same is true for the heart disease industry. The American Heart Association endorses Fruit Loops & Cheerios with “Heart Check” while children are obese and lining up for heart attacks. But we are supposed to be concerned about the paltry dollars that alternative medicine garners?

    • Ignoring the straw man and whataboutery

      What a joke. CON-Med (conventional medicine) finds a “cure” for cancer every year

      Evidence to support this assertion please, Roger.

      Oh. You don’t have any. Run along now you foolish man. The marks you regard as patients might believe the fallacious nonsense you spout. We don’t.

      • @Lenny

        CON-Med ( I love that, thanks Roger) certainly finds treatments every year, and would proceed to attempt to convince the public that it will cure them. Whatta SHAM !

        Sandra, I couldn’t agree with you more on amalgam, and have had this some conversation previously with Mr. Lenny. Nice pool of evidence you supplied to support your claim.

  • Readers will be fascinated to learn of this forthcoming event – aimed at all who are interested in quackery – or hope to profit from its promotion:

    College of Medicine: ‘Your Life and Cancer 2020’ organised with ‘Yes to Life’.

    “ A brand new online interactive event highlighting the benefits of combining lifestyle and complementary approaches with conventional cancer treatment.

    Featuring live interactive presentations on the importance of nutrition and managing stress; the benefits of physical exercise; exploring mindfulness and the science behind it; to the role of cannabinoids and the potential of medicinal mushrooms in cancer care… and much more.

    The event is focused on supporting people with a cancer diagnosis, but therapists, practitioners, doctors, and oncologists* are welcome to attend.

    A ‘breathtaking line-up of more than 40+ international experts’ are promised.”

    In other words: integrating conventional cancer treatment with modalities for which there is not enough evidence (if any) to render them as conventional. Aka ‘Quackery’.
    And those who endorse and promote such approaches are thereby self-identified as quacks – a number of whom are registered medical practitioners. Sigh.

    But these doctors are unethical because they seek to take advantage of the gullible and do not properly inform their patients that the modalities they would like to see ‘integrated’ have no evidence for genuine benefit and rely on placebo responses.

    These scamists swathe themselves in academic robes or the white coats of physicians when the cloaks of wizards and magicians would be more honest.
    But at least magicians have the integrity to advise they are performing only for entertainment purposes – they do not claim their ‘magic’ works in any meaningful sense other than to give pleasure.

    “Thar’s gold in them thar ills!”

  • Go to your room @Lenny. You forgot this:

    “Human toxicity varies with the form of mercury, the dose and the rate of exposure. The target organ for inhaled mercury vapor is primarily the brain [5]. Mercurous and mercuric salts chiefly damage the gut lining and kidney [5], while methyl mercury is widely distributed throughout the body [5]. Toxicity varies with dosage: large acute exposures to elemental mercury vapor induce severe pneumonitis, which in extreme cases can be fatal [5]. Low-grade chronic exposure to elemental or other forms of mercury induces subtler symptoms and clinical findings, as discussed hereinafter.”

    The person you called a “loon” https://www.drbernhoft.com/meet-dr-bernhoft
    r, American College for Advancement in Medicine
    Member, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

    A.B Harvard University (cum laude)

    M.D. Washington University St Louis

    General Surgery Residency, UCSF

    Hepatobiliary Surgery Fellowship, London England

    American Board of Surgery

    Diplomate, American Board of Environmental Medicine

    Author 28 peer reviewed medical articles

    Chief Medical Officer, Biotalk, Inc, Dallas, TX

    Dr. Bernhoft is one of the nation’s leading practitioners in the field of environmental medicine. He comes to his expertise not only through extensive academic and professional training and decades as a practicing physician and surgeon, but also from the uniquely motivating perspective of having been a patient himself who had to fight desperately for his life and was literally forced to find a way to heal himself from an illness that left his MD colleagues at a loss for diagnosis and treatment. He had severe respiratory and GI symptoms, numerous allergies, sensitivities to perfumes, car exhaust and other common odors, lost 35 pounds in four months and had to abruptly walk away from his several-years-long, busy practice as a pancreatic surgeon. Dr. Bernhoft’s search for underlying causes of his debilitating illness led him to study environmental medicine.

    His personal quest for survival carried him into cutting-edge advanced medicine, including gene-environment interactions. He found out that his gene which codes for an enzyme called MTHFR was hypoactive, and a second, which produces GSTM1 was absent, leaving him susceptible to poisoning by a wide range of metals and chemicals. Since the Genome Project has identified abnormalities of this sort, biochemists have found ways to improve performance of substandard enzymes like MTHFR and increase the amount of enzymes backing up GSTM1, allowing improved function. With this new information, he was able to begin clearing the metals, chemicals and surgical disinfectants which had poisoned him, and regain his health.

    Having regained his energy and photographic memory and shed his allergy and chemical sensitivity issues, Dr. Bernhoft began seeking proven medical innovations from around the world. He retrained in Environmental Medicine between 2002-2006, passed his boards in that specialty, and began applying his new knowledge to a uniquely successful approach to chronic diseases. Once functionally disabled, he is now able to run 15-20 miles per week, and is three belts short of black belt in Shito Ryu karate. He has his life back.

    Because of his unique personal experience, combined with his outstanding professional credentials, he is one of the most effective spokespeople in the cause of environmental healing.

    • Sandra

      When you cherry-pick your way through what you with your limited intellect believe to be the science that supports your assertions, it always helps if you read and understand the conclusions. It helps to stop you looking stupid.

      And posting the uncontested self-cogratulory bloviations from a loon’s own website hardly counts as a ringing endorsement. Please try harder.

      What do proper scientists say about Bernhoft? How about geneticist Jon Entine, director of the Genetic Literacy Project, writing in Forbes about when Bernhoft appeared on the quackfest that is Dr Oz. here

      “During the show, which was promoted as an “investigation,” Oz provided uncritical time for Jeffrey Smith, an activist with no scientific or medical background, and Dr. Robin Bernhoft, a California doctor known as a leading proponent of unconventional medical interventions and a belief, unsupported by mainstream science, that most chronic medical problems are caused by “toxic environmental exposures.” Neither has the slightest expertise in the science of genetics or agricultural genomics and both are known for their near-hysterical criticism of biotech foods.”

      Hardly a ringing endorsement.

  • A 12 y.o. could understand the implications of this:

    Journal of Environmental and Public Health
    Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 460508, 10 pages
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/460508

    “Approximately 80% of metallic mercury vapor outgassed from amalgams is absorbed through inhalation [10, 14, 15], compared with about 7 to 10% absorption of ingested metallic mercury [5], and about 1% absorption of metallic mercury through skin contact [5].

    In addition to the brain [16, 19–26], metallic mercury is also deposited in the thyroid [5, 19, 21], breast [27], myocardium [28, 29], muscles [5, 21], adrenals [5], liver [5, 30–32], kidneys [5, 7, 8, 19, 20, 23, 30–32], skin [5, 7, 8], sweat glands [5], pancreas [5], enterocytes [5, 30], lungs [5, 23, 30], salivary glands [5], testes, and prostate [5] and may be associated with dysfunction of those organs. Mercury also has affinity for binding sites on the surface of T cells and for sulfhydryl groups influencing T cell function [33, 34]. Mercury deposits readily in placenta and fetal tissues and is found in breast milk. [5, 18, 31, 35]”

    The body burden of mercury in the above mentioned organ systems can be at least one contributing factor to depression & cognitive disorders (brain), Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (thyroid), multiple sclerosis (muscles) adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease), cirrhosis & hepatomegaly (liver), pancreatitis (pancreatic inflammation) ; auto-immune diseases (lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease); as well as prostate and oral cancers. Mercury from dental amalgams has also been suspect in chromosomal fetal abnormalities (Down syndrome). (http://organiceve.com/blog/pregnancy-and-mercury-amalgam/).

    Addendum:
    I think a patient’s medical doctor and dentist should collaborate with each other. For thoroughness of care, medical and dental records should be combined. Without this academic protocol, the opportunity to evaluate any connection between the time, number of amalgam restorations, metal crowns, root canal procedures and on occasion, the rare retrograde filling, their anatomical placement and onset of physical complaints cannot be scientifically evaluated. For example, when a patient presents to his/her GP with the complaint of a “burning mouth”, did the patient’s dentist place a gold crown over a retrograde or root canal restored tooth several days or up to one week before? If so, the possibility the patient is experiencing a galvanic reaction to dissimilar metals should be ruled out. When medical care is practiced in isolation, patients, the health care system and society suffer needlessly.

    • A 12 y.o. could understand the implications of this.
      But can Sandra?

      • @Edzard.

        Yes. As a medical transcriptionist & transcription teacher in a major university cancer research and treatment center for several years, I am also very familiar with the practice of oncological dentistry.

        https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/dental-oncology-can-be-key-cancer-care

        • I am proud of you Sandra

        • “The patient appears to be suffering from a nasty case of BIONJ complicated by radiation-induced mucositis. This is a complex case. We’d best call for the retired medical transcriptionist. She’ll know what to do and, if she doesn’t, she’ll know a family homeopath who will.”

          Said no one at any major university cancer research and treatment centre. Ever. Indeed there is no form of primary care in which the opinions of a retired medical transcriptionist would be called for, unless you can tell us otherwise, Sandra.

          Can you tell us why you think this might be?

          • @Lenny

            Too easy. The effective use of homeopathy to to treat radiation induced mucositis is well established. Why not read from the list of published research?

            https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=homeopathy+radiation+induced+mucositis&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

          • Sandra

            Do you read any of the links you post which you imagine show the efficacy of homeopathy?

            They really don’t.

            Actually, forget that. We know you you don’t understand proper Scientific papers.

            Anyway. If you could point out the cancer treatment centres which use homeopathy to treat oral mucositis (oh and BTW remember that Traumeel is not homeopathic – it contains active ingredients) I’d be grateful. If you could also show us the replies you have received from cancer treatment centres thanking you for enlightening them on where they have been going wrong and detailing how they have embraced homeopathy that would be nice as well.

            As ever, Sandra. You remain a figure of ridicule. Please keep posting. It’s lovely to save them as object demonstrations of the warped thought-processing that AltMed freaks display.

    • Sandra

      All you are doing is furthering your ongoing exercise in Dunning-Krugeristic hubris. Any dentists reading that post would shake their heads and laugh. You are using lots of dental words that you’ve read elsewhere but you really don’t understand what they’re all about. Why don’t you go and do a degree in dentistry? It’ll take you a few years but then you might get a grasp of how foolish you’re being.

      • @Lenny

        Every dentist who treats cancer patients should read the valuable information I post here, including the research results below. What you do not know, or refuse to accept, harms your patients.

        Pract Radiat Oncol

        . Nov-Dec 2015;5(6):e583-8.
        doi: 10.1016/j.prro.2015.04.007. Epub 2015 Sep 26.
        Dental amalgam artifact: Adverse impact on tumor visualization and proton beam treatment planning in oral and oropharyngeal cancers
        Patrick Richard 1 , George Sandison 2 , Quang Dang 3 , Bart Johnson 3 , Tony Wong 4 , Upendra Parvathaneni 2
        Affiliations

        PMID: 26419441 DOI: 10.1016/j.prro.2015.04.007

        Abstract

        Purpose: We evaluated the incidence and impact of dental filling artifacts on the definition of clinical target volume (CTV) for oropharyngeal/oral cavity cancers receiving radiation therapy. We performed phantom proton beam dosimetric analyses using a low-density composite filling to investigate artifact reduction and dose distribution.

        Methods and materials: We reviewed oral cavity/oropharynx radiation treatment plans between 2010 and 2012. Plans were evaluated for artifacts and impact on CTV visualization. We constructed a head and neck phantom, obtaining planning computed tomography images at baseline (native tooth) and for each filling (composite and metal amalgam) interchanged into a tooth adjacent to the tumor. We performed uniform scanning proton plans with each filling, evaluating for planning target volume (PTV) coverage and overall dose distribution.

        Results: A total of 110 treatment plans were reviewed (71 oropharynx, 39 oral cavity). Artifacts were identified in 81 plans (73.6%), including 53 oropharynx (74.6%) and 28 oral cavity (71.8%). Artifacts obscured the CTV in 77 cases (95%), including 49 of 53 oropharynx cases (92.5%) and all 28 oral cavity cases. On phantom testing, the metal amalgam obscured the tumor while the composite did not. Hounsfield unit (HU) values (range, mean) for the tumor were: baseline (-484.0 to 700.0 HU, 104 HU), composite (-728.5 to 1038.0 HU, 105 HU), metal amalgam (-1023.0 to 807.0 HU, 90.74 HU). The percent of planning target volume receiving 95% of prescription dose of the PTV was baseline (100%), composite (100%), and metal amalgam (92.3%). PTV dose ranges were baseline (98%-106%), composite (98%-107%), and metal amalgam (66%-111%). PTV coverage and dose distributions of the composite and native tooth plans were identical.

        Conclusions: A high incidence of artifacts was found on the planning scans of oral/oropharyngeal cancer patients, adversely impacting CTV visualization. In our phantom model, metal amalgam impacted tumor and tissue density. The PTV was underdosed with the metal amalgam compared with the composite filling. A potential solution involves exchanging metal fillings with composite before proton treatment planning for improved tumor visualization and dosimetry.

        Copyright © 2015 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

        • @Sara
          It is not enough to know what the individual words mean. You need to be able to understand what they mean in context. You cannot just search for “amalgam” and “cancer” on Google and claim that any paper you find where these words appear in the same abstract, is telling us amalgam causes or aggravates cancer – or whatever terrible things you thought you were discovering.
          Try reading through this abstract, slowly, a few times. You might start to understand that it is not telling us that amalgam is having an effect on cancer, only disturbing the images that are being used to plan radiotherapy.
          It is not enough to look up the meaning and spelling of individual words to become an expert.

          And apropos spelling. I forgot to tell you the other day. “Metallurgist” is spelled with a “u” not “e”,

        • Sandra

          Would you be so good as to tell us what you think this says, what its implications are for dentistry and why you think all dentists should read it.

          Bjorn has given you a few pointers.

          • @Lenny

            The research concluded that dental filling artifacts could affect the definition of the clinical *target volume* in patients with oropharyngeal/oral cavity cancers receiving radiation therapy. The expertse a dentist (you) could offer may fascilitate the vizualization for planning of photon radiation treatment dosing. The result could either hinder or enhance its effectiveness.

            For the sake of any of your future dental patients with oral cancers, perhaps you could humble yourself enough to learn more from radiation oncologists.

  • @Sandra

    I do learn from radiation oncologists. I also learn from maxillofacial surgeons. What I don’t learn from is mad old women with a hysterical belief in the powers of shaken water and a morbid fascination with dental amalgam.

    When have you ever been involved clinically in the mutidisciplinary approach to treating head and neck cancer, Sandra?

    That would be.. Oooh.. Let me think now..

    Never. Yes. That would be it.

    I have been. Frequently. It’s part of my job.

    I was last involved three months ago with a patient of mine who had an oral SCC removed which I had picked up and treatment was needed prior to radiotherapy. Next time one comes my way, though, I’ll mention that there’s a retired medical transcriptionist in New Mexico who thinks she’s got something to add that we should all know about. When everyone’s stopped laughing, I’ll let you know.

    You have no concept of the depths of your own ignorance and little grasp of the expertise of others. Your ongoing life-exercise in texbook Dunning-Krugerism is a source only of amusement. Your insignificance will remain a frustration to you.

  • @Lenny

    You have been trying to discourage my contributions to this blog for how many years now? The end result has been is that you (not me) look stubbornly arrogant.

    Why not broaden your knowledge of available therapeutic treatment horizons. Take the time to learn about the homeopathic remedies used in the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinomas.

    https://www.myupchar.com/en/disease/oral-cancer/homeopathy

    • Sandra

      I’ve never discouraged your contributions. I encourage them. The more of them you post, the more your pompous, ignorant hubris Is demonstrated.

      I already have a list of the homeopathic remedies which have been demonstrated in properly-conducted trials to be useful in the treatment of oral SCC

      And here they are:

      .

    • Sandra. I’ve had a look at that link. Something you plainly haven’t done because you blindly post any shit which you imagine supports your delusions. Or more likely you have looked at it, but haven’t understood any of it because you are spectacularly ignorant as regards matters regarding medicine and science.

      Anyway.

      Let’s walk you through it. Point out the Big Words you don’t understand.

      It says: “homeopathic remedies can help slow down the growth and spread of cancer cells in early stages”

      That, Sandra, is not treatment. Does that sound like a cure? In early SCC, the cure is surgical. Excision. If you were diagnosed with early oral SCC and the option was surgical excision and probable cure or homeopathy which, it is claimed, might slow the growth so, presumably, if you’re lucky and the homeopath is “skilled”, the SCC will grow and spread more slowly and kill you later than it might otherwise, which would you choose?

      The link makes it clear that surgery is the best option if you’d cared to scroll down a bit

      Sandra.

      With every post, with every link, you’re just making yourself look more stupid.

    • Ummm….no, Sandroop it is indeed you that looks stubbornly arrogant….and stupid, ill considered and clearly operating from an unwavering agenda and bias. But perhaps that’s just me (and anyone having an IQ slightly above double digits). It’s always depressing to read your entries so I’ll assume you intend to keep them up as that seems to be your real agenda: pissing at those you know you can’t hold an intellectual candle to.

  • @Lenny

    DOI:10.1016/J.HOMP.2004.02.008Corpus ID: 3746622

    Homeopathy as a supportive therapy in cancer.
    E. S. Rajendran
    Published 2004
    Medicine
    Homeopathy : the journal of the Faculty of Homeopathy
    Three cases of cancer in which homeopathic treatment was used in a complementary role are described: A 64-year-old male with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the rectum. The patient refused surgery. He was treated constitutionally with Lycopodium. He survived nearly 3 years with no further hospitalization or other complications. A 77-year-old female with terminal squamous cell carcinoma of the cheek previously treated with radiotherapy. There was intense pain not relieved by available treatment. Calc Carb was prescribed on constitutional grounds and gave very good pain relief. A 70-year-old male with carcinoma of the larynx. He had been receiving homeopathic treatment after the diagnosis because of his faith in it. He was advised to have surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, which he underwent immediately. This treatment was followed by homeopathic constitutional treatment. Ferrum-phos was prescribed. There was a good response. The patient was symptom-free at 3 year follow-up. Homeopathic medicines prescribed on constitutional grounds may play a useful role in supportive and palliative for patients with malignant disease.

        • yes, thank you

        • That article references just one paper about a small trial (n=32) conducted in 2001. Oberbaum et al. stated:

          Confirmation of our results in a larger trial in patients receiving BMT or other intensive chemo-therapy protocols is needed. Therefore, we are planning to extend our investigations to a large-scale, multi-center study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TRAUMEEL S in the treatment of adults who are at risk for chemotherapy-induced stomatitis.

          Any idea if that larger ‘confirmation’ trial has been conducted in the intervening 19 years, what the results were and why that article has not been updated to reflect its results (if any)?

          Oh, and did you know that Traumeel contains mercury?

          • I didn’t know that. I had a look at that Traumeel study

            https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1097-0142%2820010801%2992%3A3%3C684%3A%3AAID-CNCR1371%3E3.0.CO%3B2-%23

            The relevant but says “ Assuming that a patient will have to be treated with TRAUMEEL S for 1 week, he or she will receive 35 ampoules. The mercury concentration of one ampoule is 0.5 ng/mL, giving a total amount of ingested mercury of approximately 17.5 ng per week.”

            So Sandra thinks mercury IS safe to use in therapeutics?

          • I bet you don’t get a cogent answer…

          • @Alan I refuse to waste my time trying to explain the difference between homeopathically prepared mercury (after dilution and succession) vs the form of mercury you want the readers here to believe is used in the homeopathic preparation Traumeel. Go to your room.

            https://www.farmvet.com/Traumeel-2-ml-Vials-Injectable?CAWELAID=120037530000003014&CATARGETID=120037530000025614&CADevice=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuvDM7Ir76wIVFRLnCh3oNw95EAYYASABEgIjlfD_BwE

          • Oh dear, Sandra. I thought you knew about homeopathy.

            That link. That’s the veterinary injection. Not the stuff used in the oral mucositis study you posted. Different composition. And it doesn’t appear to have mercuris solubis in it which you might have noticed if you bothered reading the shit you post which you imagine supports your stupidity.

            Anyway

            I refuse to waste my time trying to explain the difference between homeopathically prepared mercury (after dilution and succession) vs the form of mercury you want the readers here to believe is used in the homeopathic preparation Traumeel

            Looks like we’re going to have to explain to you the principles of homeopathic dilution, Sandra, since it’s plainly something else you don’t understand. The homeopathic remedies used in Traumeel are in the “X” level of dilution. (“low potency” in homeopathic terms) which means that there is detectable amounts of the active ingredients available. Not very homeopathic. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the table
            here which lists the ingredients and the amounts present in each dose.

            So let’s keep walking you through it. I’ve already posted this next bit which you plainly read and ignored because it showed your foolishness but let’s go back to the
            Traumeel study you posted

            I’ll save you going through it because we know you’re not very good at reading. Here’s the relevant part quoted. Again.

            Assuming that a patient will have to be treated with TRAUMEEL S for 1 week, he or she will receive 35 ampoules. The mercury concentration of one ampoule is 0.5 ng/mL, giving a total amount of ingested mercury of approximately 17.5 ng per week.

            The same sort of amounts which come off amalgams and which suddenly you believe to be theraputic and useful in medicines.

            So that’s shown empirically and demonstrably to be utterly wrong, spectacularly ignorant and mind-spinningly stupid. Again. Not that we didn’t already know that but it’s always good to see you show it in black and white.

            Mind the door doesn’t hit you on the arse on your way out. I’d tell you to go to your room but you haven’t been out of it for the past fifteen years.

          • You can always be relied upon to provide the humour, Sandra.

    • Three biased anecdotes from homeopathic loons.

      We’ll that’s going to turn the world of oncology on its head, isn’t it?

      Why do you bother posting this shit, Sandra? Is it because you know that all the decent evidence shows homeopathy to have no effect beyond placebo and you can’t bring yourself to admit it?

        • Sandra

          Your delusions are becoming worrying. Platinum metallicum would seem to be the remedy you need.

          http://www.homoeopathicjournal.com/articles/81/3-2-21-398.pdf

          • @Lenny

            I doubt that you will, but I challenge you to collect information about your patients who have amalgam fillings over the next several months and let me know what you learn. After you perform a routine scaling, cleaning and polishing of your patients who have amalgams, (even one), contact them by phone within two weeks. Ask, and record in their record, if they’ve developed unexplained lymphadenopathy, a flare up of their allergies, a rise in their blood pressure or blood sugar levels, worsening gastric complaints, night sweats, drooling on their pillow at night (excessive salivation), a metallic taste, xerostomia, or stomatitis. Since each of these symptoms can be related to an increased exposure to mercury vapor from dental mercury, you may learn something. In lieu of a phone call, you could also type up & xerox copy a questionnaire for them to fill out and return to you. Don’f forget to include a stamped addressed envelope for them.

            https://dentistinnewhavenct.com/a-history-of-amalgam-fillings/

          • seems to me that many people would have flare up of their allergies, a rise in their blood pressure or blood sugar levels, worsening gastric complaints, night sweats, drooling on their pillow at night (excessive salivation), a metallic taste, xerostomia, or stomatitis within a period of several month, REGARDLESS OF AMAGAM.
            to make this even minimally meaningful, he must do the same with patients who have no amalgam in their teeth and compare the incidence.
            such studies have been done and they show NO difference.

          • @Sandra

            Your ignorance remains breathtaking.

            As you should know, the greatest exposure to mercury vapour is during removal of amalgam restorations. I have done this tens of thousands of times over my career and how many times has a patient contacted me after the procedure to complain about any of the symptoms you mention?

            None.

            Anyway. Back to the mercury content of Traumeel. You seem to have forgotten to comment on that.

        • Lovin’ the disclaimer at the bottom:

          The information presented here is for informational purposes only and was created by a team of US–registered dietitians and food experts.

          • Better known as the Quack Miranda. Because nothing screams “trustworthy” like refusing to be held accountable should their advice kill you.

            It’s also legally worthless, and surplus to requirements too as most AltMed aficionados will be the first to throw its victims under the bus rather than admit they’ve been conned by it, least of all in a court of law. Remember: AltMed does not fail its patients; it’s always the patients who fail AltMed.

    • Sandra,

      A 64-year-old male with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the rectum. The patient refused surgery. He was treated constitutionally with Lycopodium. He survived nearly 3 years with no further hospitalization or other complications.

      This is not usual in colorectal cancer.

      A 77-year-old female with terminal squamous cell carcinoma of the cheek previously treated with radiotherapy. There was intense pain not relieved by available treatment. Calc Carb was prescribed on constitutional grounds and gave very good pain relief

      It is difficult to know what to make of this without further details. How long ago was the radiotherapy? If fairly recent, remember that it takes a few months to have its full effect. Did she have any other treatment for her pain? I’m not even sure what you mean by “terminal squamous carcinoima of the cheek” as these tumours usually metastasise very late.

      A 70-year-old male with carcinoma of the larynx. He had been receiving homeopathic treatment after the diagnosis because of his faith in it. He was advised to have surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, which he underwent immediately. This treatment was followed by homeopathic constitutional treatment. Ferrum-phos was prescribed. There was a good response. The patient was symptom-free at 3 year follow-up.

      This is surely the expected outcome without homeopathy. Carcinoma of the larynx is generally curable with conventional treatment.

      • It is not impossible for someone with advanced rectal cancer to survive for much longer than expected. But the usual result of independent review of homeoathic miracles is that they are simply not true.

      • This is not usual in colorectal cancer.

        I think you meant “not unusual”?

        Colorectal cancer is known to be slow-growing, even in advanced cases, and the 5-year survival rate for stage 4 with only local metastases is as high as 70%. That would put Sandra’s victim well inside normal bounds, even assuming her claim that it went completely untreated. As for saying he experienced no further complications, I find that hard to believe given that it finally killed him.

        What sickens me is that a man is dead, and not in a pleasant end, and this religious loon is actually proud of herself for it. Alas, no-one’s invented a cure for malignant narcissism; least of all one that works on homeopaths where its incidence is clearly approaching 1:1.

    • Sandra… you are quoting from a well known crank journal with less than zero credibility in the medical community. A high school kid could write an article and get it accepted by that “journal”.

      And even if accurate, which it is not, it reflects three anecdotes. That’s not science. It’s about 200 incidences below what might be considered scientifically significant. It’s a reflection of confirmation bias (look it up). It’s also a correlation. All the three patients involved sat in the sun or drank tea or coffee or walked every day or sipped water, or sprinkled salt on their food…all of which correlate 100% with their ‘response’. Do you understand basic science? What you presented is voodoo-ism in a joke journal. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to have at least an 8th grade understanding of basic science principals.

      Have you ever heard of James Randi? He has a million dollar prize on offer for anyone who can reliably demonstrate homeopathic claims. He is your chance Sandra…tell us how you fair. Here is his TedTalk on homeopathy:
      –https://www.ted.com/talks/james_randi_homeopathy_quackery_and_fraud/transcript?language=en

      Here is his million dollar offer…I know him…and the offer still stands..https://www.wired.co.uk/article/homeopathy-challenge

  • @Lenny

    “As you should know, the greatest exposure to mercury vapour is during removal of amalgam restorations. I have done this tens of thousands of times over my career and how many times has a patient contacted me after the procedure to complain about any of the symptoms you mention?
    None.”

    Unless you ask, your patients will not see the need to report their medical complaints/symptoms to YOU. Rather, they will present their complaints to their GP. This a grave mistake. Conventionally trained GPs and dentists are not taught about the connection between dental materials and the development of illness, including auto-immune diseases. A toxicologist may know and ask, but not until after the patient has first been referrred to many clinicians. H/she may first be evaluated by a cardiogist (patient developed tachy or bradycardia); an ENT specialist (patient developed recalcitrant rhinitis, an otologist (patient developed tinnitus) for example. The onset & connection with recent dental work is seldom, if ever, a part of an initial visit. These connections and discoveries can and will only come to light if medical and dental personell are taught about the realities of the damage caused by dental materials, especially amalgams. The proof and cessation of this dangerous and toxic practice will be obvious when and if dentists and other clinicians are required to keep, compare and interpret a patients’ dental records as well.

    • Sandra. You don’t have a clue what goes on in a dental practice and what patients communicate to their dentist. Run along, now, with your pathetic little delusions.

      • @Lenny

        I’m taking the opportunity to educate you. If any of your patients have both amalgam and gold resorations in their mouth, you should be aware of the potential harm caused by oral galvanism.

        https://www.fremontnaturaldentistry.com/blog/mixed-metals-in-the-mouth-can-be-trouble-oral-galvanism/

        I doubt you will try this, but I propose you engage your patients in this experiment (more simple in scope with quick results). Ask one or two of them who have chronic sinusitis (you should know this from their medical chart intake information sheet) if they chew gum daily. If they do, suggest they refrain from chewing gum, eat only slightly warm or cold, not hot, soft foods that require little chewing, refrain from drinking hot fluids and return for follow-uip in one week.With little exception, in most patients their sinusitis symptoms will be less severe. Why? Because their body burden of mercury caused by mercury vapor release from dental amalgam will be reduced.

        • Sandra

          In your little World of Duning-Krugerism, you somehow imagine that dentists know nothing about oral galvanism. We do. Run along, now.

          Any evidence beyond “my quack mate said so” to back up your assertion regarding sinusitis and Hg?

          Oh. No. You haven’t. Run along again. But a bit further this time.

          Why are you engaging in this ongoing exercise in public stupidity?

          And you appear to have forgotten to respond to my comments regarding the amount of Hg in Traumeel.

          • @Lenny

            I have no doubt my suggestion will remain in your thoughts. If you are of average intellect, the seed of curiosity has been planted. I have always welcomed the opportunity and been rewarded by my ability to educate even the most stubborn of my students.

            I responded to Alan. But, I’ll respond to you as well.

            Traumeel S is homeopathic. The mercury content has therefore been diluted and succussed.
            Don’t listen to Alan Henness.

            https://www.homoempatia.eu/product/heel-traumeel-s-ampoules.254270.html?language_code=en

          • Sandra

            I didn’t listen to Alan. I read the study you posted. Something you plainly didn’t. And I replied to your response. You chose to ignore it because I showed you to be wrong

            Traumeel is homeopathic in the X and not C dilutions. It contains mercury in measurable amounts. Look at my post further up the thread. It contains links and quotes from the study you posted showing EXACTLY this. You are wrong. Demonstrably and provably wrong. Go on. Put your fingers in your ears and go “LALALA” again.

            The only seed of curiosity you provide is one of how you can be so stupid. Ironically you also spout huge amounts of prime bullshit with which to fertilise it.

            Oh.. and your “students”?

            Don’t make me laugh, Sandra. No one listens to you or takes you seriously.

          • please do not discourage Sandra; in these dire times, we need some sort of amusement.

  • @Edzard. I agree. I would like to see Lenny do the comparison.

    Edzard on Monday 21 September 2020 at 15:34

    “seems to me that many people would have flare up of their allergies, a rise in their blood pressure or blood sugar levels, worsening gastric complaints, night sweats, drooling on their pillow at night (excessive salivation), a metallic taste, xerostomia, or stomatitis within a period of several month, REGARDLESS OF AMAGAM.to make this even minimally meaningful, he must do the same with patients who have no amalgam in their teeth and compare the incidence.
    such studies have been done and they show NO difference.”

    This publication “Die chronische Quecksilber-und Amalgamvergiftung 1)”

    https://www.amalgam-informationen.de/stock1.html
    and several other publications by Professor Prof. Dr. Alfred Stock may interest you.

  • @Lenny

    “Traumeel is homeopathic in the X and not C dilutions. It contains mercury in measurable amounts. Look at my post further up the thread. It contains links and quotes from the study you posted showing EXACTLY this.”

    I think you are confused. Please copy & paste the quotes you refer to.

    • Sandra

      How much effort does it take for you to scroll up this thread a bit? I know you’re not that bright, but please try a little harder. Just for you, I’ll copy it because I enjoy demostrating your foolishness.

      OK. Here we go:

      >>Oh dear, Sandra. I thought you knew about homeopathy.

      That link. That’s the veterinary injection. Not the stuff used in the oral mucositis study you posted. Different composition. And it doesn’t appear to have mercuris solubis in it which you might have noticed if you bothered reading the shit you post which you imagine supports your stupidity.

      Anyway

      “I refuse to waste my time trying to explain the difference between homeopathically prepared mercury (after dilution and succession) vs the form of mercury you want the readers here to believe is used in the homeopathic preparation Traumeel”

      Looks like we’re going to have to explain to you the principles of homeopathic dilution, Sandra, since it’s plainly something else you don’t understand. The homeopathic remedies used in Traumeel are in the “X” level of dilution. (“low potency” in homeopathic terms) which means that there are detectable amounts of the active ingredients available. Not very homeopathic. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the table
      here which lists the ingredients and the amounts present in each dose. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085232/table/t2-ijgm-4-225/?report=objectonly

      So let’s keep walking you through it. I’ve already posted this next bit which you plainly read and ignored because it showed your foolishness but let’s go back to the
      Traumeel study you posted; https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1097-0142%2820010801%2992%3A3%3C684%3A%3AAID-CNCR1371%3E3.0.CO%3B2-%23

      I’ll save you going through it because we know you’re not very good at reading. Here’s the relevant part quoted. Again.

      “Assuming that a patient will have to be treated with TRAUMEEL S for 1 week, he or she will receive 35 ampoules. The mercury concentration of one ampoule is 0.5 ng/mL, giving a total amount of ingested mercury of approximately 17.5 ng per week.”

      The same sort of amounts which come off amalgams and which suddenly you believe to be theraputic and useful in medicines.

      So that’s shown empirically and demonstrably to be utterly wrong, spectacularly ignorant and mind-spinningly stupid. Again. Not that we didn’t already know that but it’s always good to see you show it in black and white.

      Mind the door doesn’t hit you on the arse on your way out. I’d tell you to go to your room but you haven’t been out of it for the past fifteen years. <<

  • @Edzard

    “Die chronische Quecksilber-und Amalgamvergiftung 1)”

    https://www.amalgam-informationen.de/stock1.html

    • pity that you don’t read German, otherwise you might have realised how poor the science is.

      • @Edzard

        A small portion from the German text, in English

        “I soon discovered that chronic mercury poisoning, which was little known to the medical profession at the time, is unexpectedly widespread and that it can also be caused by amalgam fillings, as they give off mercury. In a lecture I gave to the Society for Dentistry in June 1926, I pointed this out and warned the dentists themselves about the dangers of handling amalgam. After I had reported to the Berlin Medical Society a few weeks later, the well-known clinician Privy Councilor His, in conjunction with the dentist Professor Dieck, called one of Professor Fleischmann’s at the Charité Dieck, set up a “mercury investigation center” at the Charité, headed by Professor Fleischmann. It existed for about two years and was able to collect informative material. Fleischmann, who, as he himself said, approached his task “with an extremely critical attitude”, reported the results in 1928 2). He described a large number of chronic mercury poisoning he had observed; he “could greatly extend the series of similar cases, especially from dentists”. In addition to the nervous-psychological symptoms, he a. Nasopharyngeal catarrh is a common symptom. He also described seven “completed tooth cases”. Amalgam wearers who have long suffered from a variety of complaints, mostly interpreted as nervous, in some cases up to occupational disability, and who have already suffered from In all these cases, after the fillings had been removed, the mercury disappeared from the urine in the course of a few months, and at the same time improvement and healing occurred.

        • still not comprehended what constitutes sound evidence, Sandra?

          • Or sound science.

            To be honest, there’s very little that Sandra comprehends. And she demonstrates this with unerring precision with every post she makes. Look up this thread. She is wrong about something in each and every post she makes. Give her a stick and she’ll grab the wrong end, every time. And then deny it when her error is demonstrated. We all make mistakes but true stupidity is an inability to learn from them when one’s error is pointed out. It’s not so much that Sandra never learns, it’s that she REFUSES to do so. Wilful, blinkered pig-ignorance. How strange to live a life in this way.

          • yes, she is remarkable in her abilities to deny reason.

  • Learn something new today @Lenny & @Ernst

    Exercise-induced anaphylaxis: improvement after removal of amalgam in dental caries.
    Katsunuma T,,Iikura Y, Nagakura T, Saitoh H, Akimoto K, Akasawa A,Kindaichi S

    Annals of Allergy, 30 Apr 1990, 64(5):472-475
    PMID: 2337265

    Abstract
    We present a case of exercise-induced anaphylaxis with improvement following the removal of dental amalgam. Although her symptoms were unresponsive to various kinds of therapy until removal of the amalgam, her symptoms related to exercise improved remarkably after the removal. The increase in plasma histamine levels for exercise provocation test also improved. This suggests that sensitivity to metals might cause exercise-induced asthma in some patients.

    • a case-report!
      better than a video
      but still no evidence.

    • “This suggests that sensitivity to metals might cause exercise-induced asthma in some patients.”

      Conclusions couched in suitably reserved tones you will note, Sandra.

      Oh. You won’t, will you. Because you won’t read or understand this reply because you never do. Mind you, you don’t read or understand very much. Anything which you think supports your miscomprehensions get posted unread and misunderstood.

      Anyway. That paper was from thirty years ago. Plenty of time for further research to have demonstrated that sensitivity to metals DOES cause exercise-induced asthma in some patients.

      Oh

      Hasn’t happened, has it, Sandra?

      No.

      So we can conclude that sensitivity to metals does not cause exercise-induced asthma in some patients.

      And we can again also conclude that you are a foolish old woman, adding further to the evidence which supports our position and demonstrating yours to be incorrect.

      Carry on, Sandra. This is fun.

  • For your reading pleasure (education) @Edzard @Lenny

    Pediatric lichen planus pigmentosus possibly triggered by mercury dental amalgams.
    Belhareth K1, Korbi M1, Belhadjali H1, Soua Y1,Moussa A2,Youssef M1, Zili J1

    Pediatric Dermatology, 25 Dec 2019, 37(2):375-376
    DOI: 10.1111/pde.14078 PMID: 31876002

    Abstract
    Lichen planus pigmentosus is uncommon in childhood and its treatment is often challenging. We report a case of cutaneous lichen planus pigmentosus in a 10-year-old boy, without oral mucosal involvement, two months after an amalgam dental restoration. The diagnosis was based on the histopathological examination of a skin biopsy, the positive patch test to mercury, and the improvement after amalgam removal. Our case report suggests that metal allergy may play a role, and amalgam replacement may be followed by clinical improvement.

  • @Ernst

    Aha! Designating the reason for so much human suffering as an “allergy” to the mercury in dental amalgams sounds so much kinder, doesn’t it.

    “WHAT IF AMALGAM IS THE ENEMY?

    As a dental hygienist for the past 25 years, I have spent a considerable amount of time telling patients that the bacteria in plaque is the enemy….”,

    https://www.dentistryiq.com/dentistry/restorative-cosmetic-and-whitening/article/16355657/rdh-exclusive-what-if-amalgam-is-the-enemy

    • WHAT IF STUPIDITY IS THE ENEMY?

    • What if it is?

      That piece is from 19 years ago, Sandra. Another pathetic anecdote. But it might’ve been a sign of something.. Plenty of time has passed for the mainstream research to have been done and return its conclusions that amalgam is harmful and should be banned, advice subsequently taken up by dental organisations worldwide…

      Hasn’t happened, has it

      Wonder why?

      That dead horse you keep trying to flog isn’t going anywhere and never has.

  • @Lenny & @Ernst

    Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Mar; 16(6): 1036.
    Published online 2019 Mar 22. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16061036
    PMCID: PMC6466133 PMID: 30909378

    Rethinking the Dental Amalgam Dilemma: An Integrated Toxicological Approach
    Hector Jirau-Colón,1,2 Leonardo González-Parrilla,1,2 Jorge Martinez-Jiménez,1,2 Waldemar Adam,3 and Braulio Jiménez-Velez1,2

    Summary
    Enough data have been presently assembled to be concerned with the mercury health problem. The mayor sources of mercury in humans are dental amalgams and the food chain. The constant release of mercury and its presence in saliva, as well as the added consumption of contaminated fish and seafood products, constitute a serious and exacerbated burden in humans. However, much of the commercial fish are now being grown in fish hatcheries and the restrictions of release of mercury into the environment are enforced in many countries, which should lead to a reduction in mercury body burden in the future. Although much of the detrimental mercury is eliminated, part of it is accumulated and biotransformed into organomercury compounds. These find their way into the brain, where they may persist in the order of years. Due to such acute or chronic exposure, many pathological conditions have been ascribed to mercury toxicity: immunosuppression, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, hormonal imbalance, and gingivitis, to mention a few of the more serious ones. Consequently, the development of the pathological conditions associated with mercury exposure constitutes a serious health burden, which adds constraints and limits lifespan. Indeed, recent studies have revealed an association of dental amalgams with Alzheimer and Parkinson disease. Many genes (GCLC, MT1M, MT4, ATP7B, and BDNF, currently used as biomarkers) respond to mercury exposure, which either enhances mercury excretion or accumulation. Therefore, relevant individual polymorphism in mercury-responsive genes can alter its availability, bioaccumulation in specific tissues and, hence, its toxicity.

  • Stop using amalgam @Lenny

    Recommendations About the Use of Dental Amalgam in Certain High-Risk Populations: FDA Safety Communication

    https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/recommendations-about-use-dental-amalgam-certain-high-risk-populations-fda-safety-communication

    • Dentists should stop using amalgam, Sandra?

      Why?

      Because you think it’s harmful to health.

      The link you posed, Sandra. Bang-up-to-date advice. What does it say? Do you read ANY of the shit you post? The bottom-line. Tell you what, Sandra, since we know how you struggle with reading and comprehension, I’ll post it for you.

      The weight of the existing evidence does not show that exposure to mercury from dental amalgam leads to adverse health effects in the general population

      So that doesn’t support your position, Sandra. At all. In fact, it contradicts it. It shows that you are wrong. Again.

      You really are very, very stupid, aren’t you?

  • @Lenny

    The statement you quoted….Don’t you recognize it for what it is? It’s a CMA one! You are a foolish dentist.

    From the same FDA announcement:

    “Potential Adverse Health Effects of Mercury Exposure from Dental Amalgam

    Dental amalgam is a type of dental restorative material that is a mixture of elemental mercury and an alloy primarily composed of silver, tin, and copper, and is used to restore the missing structure and surfaces of a decayed tooth. It releases small amounts of mercury in the form of a vapor (gas), depending on the number and age of existing fillings as well as some dietary and chewing habits. Inhaling mercury vapors may be harmful, especially at doses considered higher than those typically seen from use of dental amalgam. Mercury vapor release is highest when placement or removal of the filling occurs. The levels of mercury vapors may also temporarily increase when chewing, brushing, or teeth grinding over the tooth with the amalgam filling. The mercury vapors are primarily absorbed by the body through inhalation to the lungs. The body eliminates some of the absorbed mercury, but small amounts distributed through the bloodstream may collect in certain tissues, including the brain and kidneys, or in the case of pregnant women, in the blood going to the fetus through the umbilical cord.

    Mercury is a known toxicant to the nervous system and long-term exposure to high mercury doses, such as may occur in some occupational settings, may be associated with signs or symptoms such as:

    Mood disorders (for example, anxiety, depression, irritability)
    Sleep difficulties or disturbances
    Fatigue (feeling tired)
    Memory troubles or disturbances
    Tremors (shaking of extremities)
    Difficulties with coordination
    Visual changes
    Changes in hearing
    Kidney damage”

    • @Lenny

      So that you, and others reading these comments between you and I can more easily refer back to the FDA statement, and the portion I quoted above, here is the link to the original statement.

      Recommendations About the Use of Dental Amalgam in Certain High-Risk Populations: FDA Safety Communication

      https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/recommendations-about-use-dental-amalgam-certain-high-risk-populations-fda-safety-communication

    • Sandra

      You just don’t get it, do you? Do you understand anything you read or just imagine it supports your mindless pratings?

      Again. From the same bloody statement.

      The weight of the existing evidence does not show that exposure to mercury from dental amalgam leads to adverse health effects in the general population

      Show us where, in the statement, it expressly says that amalgam restorations are harmful. You won’t be able to because IT DOESN’T.

      With every post, you just look more foolish. We are going round in circles here. You say something. I demonstrate it to be factually incorrect. You ignore me or don’t understand the simple point I’m making and say the same thing again.

      If you are unable to make intelligent or relevant contributions to this blog and insist on continuing with your asinine trolling, I’ll ask Edzard if he will block you.

      Now give it a rest you stupid f*****g woman. And learn to read.

  • @Lenny

    How do you interpret the quoted text below from the same FDA press release?

    “Be aware the following groups of people may be at greater risk for potential negative effects of mercury vapor (gas) released from dental amalgam fillings:
    Pregnant women and their developing fetuses;
    Women who are planning to become pregnant;
    Nursing women and their newborns and infants;
    Children, especially those younger than six years of age;
    People with pre-existing neurological disease;
    People with impaired kidney function;
    People with known heightened sensitivity (allergy) to mercury or other components of dental amalgam.”

    “If you are an individual in one of these groups, the FDA recommends that alternative, non-mercury materials such as composite resins or glass ionomer cements be used when possible and appropriate.”

    • The only interpretation is yours, Sandra. You think that it means amalgams are toxic and terrible and are poisoning everyone.

      “MAY BE AT GREATER RISK FOR POTENTIAL NEGATIVE EFFECTS”

      MAY, Sandra. POTENTIAL, Sandra.

      Just the FDA being cautious in certain specific groups. This advice has been in place in the UK for over 20 years.

      Nothing evidenced or demonstrated other than your stupidity. Again.

      Once more because you obviously didn’t read it last time:

      With every post, you just look more foolish. We are going round in circles here. You say something. I demonstrate it to be factually incorrect. You ignore me or don’t understand the simple point I’m making and say the same thing again.

      If you are unable to make intelligent or relevant contributions to this blog and insist on continuing with your asinine trolling, I’ll ask Edzard if he will block you.

      Now give it a rest you stupid f*****g woman. And learn to read.

      • @Lenny

        From the FDA notice: “Be aware the following groups of people may be at greater risk for potential negative effects of mercury vapor (gas) released from dental amalgam fillings:”

        Discounting the denyability clause (it helps dentists feel less responsible) dental associations worldwide want dentists to think that people within the general population such as those with “impaired kidney function” are a minority. What about the millions of people in the other “groups”?

        “More than 1.8 million people in England have diagnosed chronic kidney disease (CKD). In addition, there are thought to be around a million people who have the condition but are undiagnosed. CKD can substantially reduce quality of life, and leads to premature death forthousands of people each year. 2. People with CKD have a gradual loss of kidney function over time. The kidneys become less effective at filtering waste products from blood; water, waste and toxic substances therefore accumulate in the body. A minority of people with CKD suffer complete kidney failure, and requirerenal replacement therapy (RRT): dialysis or transplant. People with CKD are also at increased risk of stroke, heart attack, bone disease and other conditions.”

        https://www.england.nhs.uk/improvement-hub/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2017/11/Chronic-Kidney-Disease-in-England-The-Human-and-Financial-Cost.pdf

        You must realize that of the 1.8 million people in England with documented chronic kidney disease, a certain % have one or more amalgam dental restorations. Scientists & dental researchers are researching and finding the correlation between an “allergy” to the mercury in amalgam restorations and disease. The recent FDA statement is at least an admission of concern. I have been waiting for crack in the wall since 1987.

        Unless you are afraid to see the results….Another illustrative idea for you. From the medical history portion of their records in your files, tabulate how many of your patients with even a single amalgam restoration are being monitored for kidney function by the NHS via routine laboratory creatinine clearance and BUN levels. You will see a correlation.

        • I have been waiting for crack in the wall since 1987.

          And it still hasn’t appeared. I wonder why?

          From the medical history portion of their records in your files, tabulate how many of your patients with even a single amalgam restoration are being monitored for kidney function by the NHS via routine laboratory creatinine clearance and BUN levels.

          Sandra.. Have you ever been introduced to the concept of a Control Group?

          Once again I’m having to cut ‘n’ paste my response.

          Nothing evidenced or demonstrated other than your stupidity. Again.

          With every post, you just look more foolish. We are going round in circles here. You say something. I demonstrate it to be factually incorrect. You ignore me or don’t understand the simple point I’m making and say the same thing again.

          If you are unable to make intelligent or relevant contributions to this blog and insist on continuing with your asinine trolling, I’ll ask Edzard if he will block you.

          Now give it a rest you stupid f*****g woman. And learn to read.

  • @Lenny

    The British Society for Mercury Free Dentistry

    http://mercuryfreedentistry.org.uk/

    • A handy list of 36 dentists to avoid on a site that doesn’t appear to have been updated since it was launched over four years ago.

      Besides, they provide not a jot of evidence. What was your point (if any)?

      • “Oral Health Effects of Mercury from Amalgam

        A large study of 20,000 subjects at a German university found a significant relation between the number of amalgam fillings with periodontal problems(199). Some of the oral effects documented in the literature to be caused by amalgam include gingivitis, oral gum tissue inflammation, bleeding gums, bone loss, mouth sores, oral lesions, pain and discomfort, burning mouth(89), metallic taste, chronic sore throat, chronic inflammatory response, lichen planus autoimmune response, oral keratosis, oral cancer(251,252), bad breath, mouth dryness, tender teeth, trigeminal neuralgia, sinusitis, TMJ, orofacial granulomatosis, oral lichen planus(86, 87, 88, 89, 90,95), leukoplakia andamalgam tattoos(5, 27,29,48a,86, 87, 88, 89, 90,95,192a, 303,341,525a,582). Amalgams are also a factor in periodontal disease(303,etc.).Removal of amalgam fillings led to cure or significant improvement for most of such oral health problems (8,27,56,57,75,82,86,87,90, 94, 95, 101, 115, 133, 145, 167,168, 192a, 192b, 192c, 192f,212,222,233,303,313,317,320,321, 341,525a,582,etc.) and oral keratosis(pre-cancer) (87,251,252). For example, in one clinic(95) that replaced amalgams for a large number of such patients, there was cure or significant improvement in over 90% of cases for metallic taste, tender teeth, mouth sores, and bad breath and in over 80% of cases for bleeding gums and throat irritation. A Jerome meterwas used to measure mercury vapourlevel in the mouth, and many had over 50 micrograms mercury per cubic metreof air, far above the Government health guideline for mercury(217).Mercury accumulates in the trigeminal ganglia(303, 325,329a, 329b) and can cause trigeminal neuralgia from which most recover after amalgam replacement(35d, 192a,222,303, 437b, 525a). Temporomandibular joint disorder(TMJ) is a common type of joint pain which can be caused by accumulation of mercury in the joint due to the high amount of mercury in the mouth area of those with amalgam fillings and due to inflammation, similar to arthritic effects on other joints caused by mercury(303). Accumulation of mercury in the cranial nerves is a common cause of tinnitus, TMJ, cataracts, loss of smell, etc. (303).”

        https://jacewellness.com/articles/Role%20of%20Mercury%20in%20Oral%20Disease.pdf

        • Sandra

          Why do you keep triumphantly waving around this garbage? Windham is, like you, an irrelevant crank who will cite and misrepresent any bit of spurious rubbish which he thinks supports his position. I wouldn’t wipe my arse with that article, never mind pay it any attention.

          • Because it’s all she has?

          • I am still trying to educate you, Lenny You’re not the only dentist who needs to pay attention to the science, not the politics, behind the scientificaly proven toxic nature of mercury amalgam dental filllings. Are you at least learning to use safer materials?

            Rev Environ Health

            . 2015;30(4):287-92.
            doi: 10.1515/reveh-2015-0017.
            Increased mercury release from dental amalgam restorations after exposure to electromagnetic fields as a potential hazard for hypersensitive people and pregnant women
            Ghazal Mortazavi, S M J Mortazavi

            PMID: 26544100 DOI: 10.1515/reveh-2015-0017

            Abstract

            Over the past decades, the use of common sources of electromagnetic fields such as Wi-Fi routers and mobile phones has been increased enormously all over the world. There is ongoing concern that exposure to electromagnetic fields can lead to adverse health effects. It has recently been shown that even low doses of mercury are capable of causing toxicity. Therefore, efforts are initiated to phase down or eliminate the use of mercury amalgam in dental restorations. Increased release of mercury from dental amalgam restorations after exposure to electromagnetic fields such as those generated by MRI and mobile phones has been reported by our team and other researchers. We have recently shown that some of the papers which reported no increased release of mercury after MRI, may have some methodological errors. Although it was previously believed that the amount of mercury released from dental amalgam cannot be hazardous, new findings indicate that mercury, even at low doses, may cause toxicity. Based on recent epidemiological findings, it can be claimed that the safety of mercury released from dental amalgam fillings is questionable. Therefore, as some individuals tend to be hypersensitive to the toxic effects of mercury, regulatory authorities should re-assess the safety of exposure to electromagnetic fields in individuals with amalgam restorations. On the other hand, we have reported that increased mercury release after exposure to electromagnetic fields may be risky for the pregnant women. It is worth mentioning that as a strong positive correlation between maternal and cord blood mercury levels has been found in some studies, our findings regarding the effect of exposure to electromagnetic fields on the release of mercury from dental amalgam fillings lead us to this conclusion that pregnant women with dental amalgam fillings should limit their exposure to electromagnetic fields to prevent toxic effects of mercury in their fetuses. Based on these findings, as infants and children are more vulnerable to mercury exposures, and as some individuals are routinely exposed to different sources of electromagnetic fields, we possibly need a paradigm shift in evaluating the health effects of amalgam fillings.

          • @Sandra

            Science?

            You have repeatedly demonstrated that you wouldn’t recognise science if it ran up and bit you on the arse. Another bit of hypothetical whataboutery from anti-amalgam loons just makes us laugh at you.

            I paste AGAIN from a link which YOU POSTED: “ The weight of the existing evidence does not show that exposure to mercury from dental amalgam leads to adverse health effects in the general population”

            And with that I will conclude this pointless and insignificant discussion. Carry on posting your petulant pieces of ignorance, Sandra. No one takes any notice of you.

            And I note that you still refuse to condemn the proven disgraceful predatory and fraudulent behaviour of Hal Huggins. This says much.

    • Addendum to @Sandra

      When people decide to ignore the properly-evaluated evidence from the UK dental societies about the established safety of dental amalgam restorations, these brass-necked quacks can defraud them in the same way that Hal Huggins defrauded you and many others. It’s why his licence was revoked, Sandra.

  • @Lenny

    Are you adequately trained in the use of restorative materials other than mercury amalgam? Have you ever thought about the money you could save if you did not have to buy special equipment (amalgam seperators), mercury vapor detection badges for your female dental assistants, disposal fees for your office amalgam waste &, added paper work? How much does it cost you in time to allow for the mandatory safety inspecitions of your facilities? You might want to contact one of the mercury free dentists for more info.

    https://www.aegisdentalnetwork.com/ida/2011/08/female-reproductive-hazards-in-the-dental-office-are-female-dental-assistants-at-risk

    • “Are you adequately trained in the use of restorative materials other than mercury amalgam?”

      Of course I am. I’m a dentist.

      “Have you ever thought about the money you could save if you did not have to buy special equipment (amalgam seperators)”

      These go on aspirator systems you stupid f*****g cow. They are mandatory for ALL f*****g practices and are there for separating the waste when old amalgams are removed.

      “mercury vapor detection badges for your female dental assistants”

      In the UK? In your imagination only you daft cow.

      “disposal fees for your office amalgam waste”

      The princely sum of £10 a year. You’ve forgotten, you stupid f*****g cow that I rarely use the material.

      “added paper work?”

      None

      “How much does it cost you in time to allow for the mandatory safety inspecitions of your facilities?”

      Nothing. Sorry, Sandra. Keep dreaming. CQC inspections happen irrespective of what materials you use. The CQC have been turning an eye on the claims made by certain quack mercury-free dentists, though. Because they look after the best interests of the patients. Like the ASA do as well.

      “You might want to contact one of the mercury free dentists for more info. ”

      No thanks. I’m not like you. I don’t deal with frauds.

      Do one.

    • This is hilarious!
      A trolling transcriptionist asking a dentist if he knows dentistry. ?

      • @Björn

        Oh Sandra knows EVERYTHING of course. She can tell all physicians, surgeona and dentista exactly where they’re going on using the vast trove of clinical and theoretical experience she gained by typing up her husband’s thesis forty years ago and subsequently writing a few letters and hanging around with convicted fraudsters. It’s a miracle how anyone manages to do their job properly without her invaluable contributions.

    • Ooh! We’ve moved on to endodontics! Another area of Sandra’s expertise!

      I’ll stick around for a while longer.

      Sandra will now post lots of well-conducted studies demonstrating the link between orthograde endodontic treatment and systemic illness and not just more links to quack websites which say “Root canals are, like, bad, yeah?”

      We’ll wait.

      Baggie. You are now in WAY out of your depth. You have made a big enough fool of yourself already. Quit now before you do an even better job.

  • @Lenny

    A person’s education should not stop just because they have a single degree. Mine has not.

    Check your Journal of Endodontics back issues. The article “prevalence of peridontitis in root canal teeth” is very informative. Other articles relating to potential complications as a result of root canal treatment include the words: actinomycosis complications, bacterial infections, dental restoration failure, extravasation of therapeutic materials & root canal therapy adverse affects.

    • so glad you found some articles with interesting words.

    • “A person’s education should not stop just because they have a single degree. Mine has not. ”

      Is your degree in dentistry, Sandra? Or anything even remotely scientific?

      Nope.

      All you have developed, Sandra, is ignorance. You have educated yourself in nothing worthy of mention.

      So. Your little spiel of Big Words

      Once again, Sandra, you’ve not got a f*****g clue what you’re talking about. Let me ask you what form of periodontitis the little article you’ve not understood is discussing. It’s very relevant. And it demonstrates once again the depths of your stupidity and Dunning-Krugerism.

      Now then. If you would be so good as to point out where in the endodontic literature it mentions, as you claim above, that endodontics can “damage your immune system”. I’ve got the most recent copy of the endodontist’s bible, Pathways Of The Pulp and curiously it makes no mention of it.

      Maybe you can post some links to published studies, rather just typing a few big words which you don’t understand but I do.

  • @Lenny

    Spare me your self-aggrandizing.

    Apical periodontitis: A very prevalent problem
    David Figdor, MDSc, FRACDS, Dip Endo, FPFA, PhD

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1067/moe.2002.130322

    “Apical periodontitis, an inflammatory process around the apex of a tooth root, is primarily a sequel to microbial infection of the pulp space of teeth and is a remarkably widespread problem.1
    The prevalence of apical periodontitis increases with age: by 50 years of age, 1 in 2 individuals will experience the disease.

    In individuals over 60 years old, the prevalence of apical periodontitis rises to 62%.2
    The clinical management of apical periodontitis involves infection control by root canal treatment, which is the only viable alternative to the unsatisfactory option of tooth loss. On the basis of an average number of 2.2 root fillings per adult ,3 it can be estimated from census data that there are 25 million root filled teeth in Australia and more than 420 million root filled teeth in the US. In the year 1990, an estimated 14 million root canal treatments were performed in the US alone.

    The magnitude of the problem does not seem to have been fully appreciated, and therefore apical periodontitis has not attracted the attention deserved by such a common disease. Another reason that apical periodontitis may not have received a greater degree of interest is that the success rate of treatment has generally been regarded as high, of the order of 87%. This figure applies to endodontic treatment done in specialist practice where a higher expertise is likely to result in a better technical standard of treatment, whereas the success rate in general practice is of the order of 72%.

    However, when the failure rate is measured relative to the prevalence of root canal treatment, the full dimension of the problem becomes apparent. When a conservative failure rate of 13% for root canal treatment in the average population is assumed, it can be estimated that there are 3.3 million failed root canal treatments in Australia and 54 million in the US; taking the greater failure rate for treatment in general practice, the figures could be as high as 7 million and 117 million, respectively. When these numbers are multiplied by the cost of endodontic retreatment and crown or restoration replacement, the cumulative economic impact is in the order of billions of dollars.
    In recent years there has been a trend toward focusing on the technical aspects of mechanical instrumentation of the root canal as a measure of success of endodontic treatment. Although the mechanical elements of treatment undoubtedly deserve attention, a critical evaluation of relevant factors involved in the etiology of endodontic failure is more likely to yield meaningful information and, ultimately, rational treatment solutions. Sound clinical treatment must be based on a clear understanding of the causative factors in the disease process, so that intelligent and logical solutions can be applied to address the problem. For apical periodontitis, the essential role of microbial infection is well recognized as the critical etiological factor. Therefore, endodontic treatment is fundamentally the clinical management of a microbiological problem. It is logical, then, that the principal treatment objective is elimination of bacteria and exclusion of further infection from the root canal. A clean, infection-free canal can best be accomplished by mechanical instrumentation in the presence of antibacterial irrigation followed by an antimicrobial intracanal dressing, which should in most cases provide predictable elimination of bacteria.”

    • Sandra

      “Spare me your self-aggrandizing. ”

      Who’s the person here who’s claiming to know what they’re on about whilst displaying exactly the opposite?

      It’s not me, Sandra. It’s you. Sandra the self-appointed expert.

      So. Let’s carry on, shall we? Your post above:

      Well done Sandra! You can cut ‘n’ paste! How clever of you! A nice long abstract, absolutely none of which you understand. If you had, you’d have realised that it’s telling dentists to do endodontic procedures to treat AP, and to do them carefully. But you didn’t understand it, did you? You just read “apical periodontitis” without understanding what it is, its pathology, aetiology, histology, symptoms, sequelae and treatments. Ironically all which I fully understand and can document here very easily without needing to look any of them up. Because I’m a dentist. And have studied all of this. At length. And treat it in clinical practice. Unlike you.

      The original Groton Wellness link you posted above said, without evidence, that endodontics is fundamentally unsound, damages your immune system and should not be performed.

      The next article you posted said it should.

      So you’re contradicting yourself.

      I say again: You have no concept of the depths of your own ignorance. And all you are doing is continuing to demonstrate it. You are Dunning-Krugerism personified.

      And we’re still waiting for your response to my other request.

      “Now then. If you would be so good as to point out where in the endodontic literature it mentions, as you claim above, that endodontics can “damage your immune system”. I’ve got the most recent copy of the endodontist’s bible, Pathways Of The Pulp and curiously it makes no mention of it.

      Maybe you can post some links to published studies, rather just typing a few big words which you don’t understand but I do.”

      This thread continues to be a display of your pompous stupidity, Sandra. Keep it up. I’m screenshotting it for future use in lectures.

  • @Lenny

    If dentists are still using these materials, I think they should reconsider using toxic substances such as mercury containing amalgams as well as various arsenic and paraformaldehyde containing medications when performing root canal treatments.

    J Conserv Dent. 2009 Apr-Jun; 12(2): 77–79.
    doi: 10.4103/0972-0707.55623
    PMCID: PMC2898097
    PMID: 20617072
    Endodontic emergencies: Your medication may be the cause
    Promila Verma, Anil Chandra, and Rakesh Yadav

    Formaldehyde-containing medications have been used for root canal treatment for many years.[9] Various compounds containing arsenic and paraformaldehyde were used in the past when effective anesthesia could not be obtained.[11] Such agents have some clinical benefit, although local soft and hard tissue necrosis occurs if they are not confined to the pulp. The following case report describes tissue degeneration and swelling in a patient treated with formocresol during root canal treatment.

    Formocresol was first used as a root canal medication by Buckley in 1904. It is widely used in dentistry because of its antibacterial properties in root canal disinfection.[12] It contains formaldehyde, an effective alkylating agent, and cresol, a protein-coagulating phenolic compound.[2] Its action is believed to be due to the release of formaldehyde vapors which act as a germicidal agent. Besides strong chemical disinfectant properties, cytotoxic effects have also been documented. The use of formocresol in dentistry has become a controversial issue due to its widespread distribution in the body following systemic injection,[7] and the demonstration of immune response to formocresol-fixed autologous tissue implanted in connective tissue or injected into root canals.[4,5]. Powell et al .[3] have shown that when formocresol was implanted subcutaneously in the connective tissue of rats, the surrounding tissue was severely damaged; causing necrosis and abscess formation. Allergies have also been reported after the application of formocresol. Formaldehyde is one of the components of formocresol that interacts with cellular proteins. The addition of cresol to formaldehyde appears to potentiate the effect of formaldehyde on protein.[6] In a study using human pulp fibroblast cultures, formaldehyde was shown to be the major component of formocresol that caused cytotoxicity and that was more toxic than cresol.[10] In this case, formocresol-soaked cotton was inserted into the pulp chamber. The resulting necrosis may have been due to excess formocresol in the cotton, which must have leaked and permeated into the surrounding tissue.[1]

    • To perhaps avoid confusion of some readers, the first sentence of my post above should also be interpreted as:

      If dentists are still using these materials, I think they should CONSIDER NOT using toxic substances such as mercury containing amalgams as well as various arsenic and paraformaldehyde containing medications when performing root canal treatments.

    • Sandra

      The use of proven cytotoxic toxic materials containing arsenic and paraformaldehyde, also creosote, has been banned in the EU and USA for many years. I’m surprised you didn’t know this, Sandra, seeing what an expert you are. N2 was the worst stuff. You can read about it here https://quackwatch.org/dental/questionable/sargenti/

      Not so amalgam because it has not been demonstrated to be toxic.

      Anyway. Rather than posting abstracts you don’t understand, how about those links to studies demonstrating the harm endodontically treated teeth cause?

      I notice you’re becoming more passive with your tone, Sandra. What’s caused this? You’re realising that you’re in out of your depth and are trying to backtrack?

  • @Lenny

    True or false….

    Dentists who speak out against mercury amalgam fillings have good reason to fear having their license to practice revoked by the licensing board of their Country.

    • Sandra

      Dentists who defraud their patients by making unevidenced claims for the effectiveness of the treatments they provide should be called to account by the authorities whose job is to protect patients. Why do have a problem with this?

      Here is the text from the summing-up of a hearing. Would you seriously support someone who preys on the terminally-ill? Who claims a patient will be able to “sell her wheelchair”? This is what the professional boards are protecting people from. And you think this is wrong?

      In relation to the eight patients at issue here, Respondent used his standard treatment protocols. While all these patients suffered financially due to Respondent’s intervention, a number of them also suffered physically or emotionally. Respondent’s encouraging D.A. to believe in her son’s wish that she sell her wheelchair is so out of proportion to any benefit which could be anticipated that it is cruel. The treatment caused actual harm to A.G.’s mouth and gums, as well as her appearance, under circumstances when her prognosis was very poor. Far from affording her the hoped-for improvement of her liver cancer, the treatment actually diminished her well-being during the last months of her life. In relation to H.S., the diagnosis of her being very sick, coupled with the disclaimer of any liability if she proceeded without full treatment, caused her to transfer to the significantly more expensive in-office program and to experience emotional upset, which was aggravated when she was later told she had cancer.

      This is the predatory quackery of the anti-amalgam brigade. Damn right they should fear for their registrations. You, though, support them.

      You’re evil, Sandra.

      Evil.

  • @Lenny

    Sadly, you don’t know what you don’t know.

    Some dental patients complain of a burning mouth after a dentist places a gold filling adjacent to an amalgam restoration, or places a gold crown over a root canal tooth. If a patient presents to you with this complaint, do you know enough science to be able to identify that the patient’s complaint is symptomatic of a galvanic reaction to dissimilar metals? (The painful burning sensation has been been referred to as to “battery mouth”) Or, like most general dentists would you be guilty of telling this patient his or her pain was psychomatic and refer them to a psychiatrist?

    “Different metallic restorations are used in dentistry to restore decayed, fractured and missing teeth. When different alloys are placed in the oral cavity, a galvanic current is induced at the time of their contact with saliva which acts as an electrolyte.1,2,3 This phenomenon is called oral galvanism.4,5,6,7 Dental alloys develop an anodic and cathodic pole depending on the position of metals in electrochemical series and individual variations of saliva.8 A potential as high as 950 mV has been measured in the oral cavity between an aluminium splint and a gold crown.9 Such potential can decrease the proliferation rate of oral mucosa cancer cells lines10 and also cause local or systemic adverse effects on biological structures like pain and discomfort, metallic or salty taste, burning mouth syndrome, erythema, xerostomia, glossitis and oral mucosal lesions9,11,12,13,14. It may also cause general medical symptoms and diseases due to the absorption of ionized toxic metals.9 In addition, such potentials may induce changes in oral homeostasis through their direct or indirect interference with oral ecosystems. Since changes in environmental factors can stimulate the development of adaptive responses in individual microorganisms and introduce more pathogenic microorganisms into the microbial community,15 the effect of electric fields on microbial communities was the area of interest.”

    Source: Int J Oral Sci. 2014 Mar; 6(1): 7–14.
    Published online 2013 Sep 6. doi: 10.1038/ijos.2013.64
    PMCID: PMC3967302
    PMID: 24008271
    The growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in low-direct current electric fields
    Dunya Zituni,1 Heidi Schütt-Gerowitt,2 Marion Kopp,1 Martin Krönke,2 Klaus Addicks,3 Christian Hoffmann,3 Martin Hellmich,4 Franz Faber,5 and Wilhelm Niedermeier1

    • Duuning-Krugerism again, Sandra. Of course we learn about galvanic oral reactions. It’s a cornerstone of restorative dentistry you stupid woman. And we don’t use gold crowns any more you daft cow. Theyr’e obsolete. You are too thick to realise your ignorance. And you’ve not responded to my question in the post above.

      • @Lenny

        Dentists do still place gold crowns. Do a Google search.

        To address your endodontics question.

        START OF QUOTED TEXT:

        “Root canal teeth have been associated with a host of chronic, systemic health problems, including autoimmune disorders, musculoskeletal diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, fibromyalgia and other enigmatic illnesses, and cancer.

        In fact, in Cancer: A Second Opinion, German physician Dr. Josef Issels noted that nearly all of the patients he saw in his cancer clinic had infections lingering in ‘successful’ root canal teeth. Each root canal tooth, he said, should be considered ‘a dangerous toxin producing ‘factory.’

        Research published earlier this year (2018) in the journal Dentistry likewise found a connection between root canal teeth and systemic health problems.

        For the study, researchers collected data from both healthy patients and those who were chronically ill. The latter included 7 patients with cancer, 32 with chronic fatigue and systemic immunological exhaustion, 19 with rheumatoid complaints, 9 with degenerative neurological disease, 18 with atypical facial pain and trigeminal neuralgia, and 12 with intestinal symptoms.

        Dental x-rays were taken, and each set of images was examined for signs of apical periodontitis, or infection at the root tips which can develop into an abscess or cyst. The researchers also measured for toxic compounds that have been associated with root canal teeth.

        Patients with chronic health problems were found to be three times more likely to have infected root canals than patients in good health. More than 40% “showed immunological disturbance as a result of root-filled teeth.”

        END OF QUOTED TEXT

        SOURCE OF QUOTED TEXT:

        https://holisticdoctorlosangeles.com/integrative-medicine/root-canal-teeth-chronic-illness-is-there-a-connection/

        Examples of “endodontic mishaps” …

        https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&lei=Dn94X6GkMJXjtQbP1ojwCg&q=endodontic%20mishaps&ved=2ahUKEwih4_2FxpjsAhWVcc0KHU8rAq4QsKwBKAV6BAgeEAY&biw=1600&bih=730

  • Sandra

    I asked for studies. Not a copied load of unevidenced assertions. Issels was a quack who escaped a manslaughter conviction only because he was able to convince a jury that he genuinely believed his ineffective cancer treatment worked.

    I have, however, found you a study purporting to show a link between AP in endodontically-treated teeth and systemic disease.

    https://www.longdom.org/open-access/impact-of-endodontically-treated-teeth-on-systemic-diseases-2161-1122-1000476.pdf

    Which is interesting until you realise that the study was completely unblinded. People expecting to find problems find problems! What a shocker! The control group was also completely unmatched. This is the level of “research” we have come to expect from loons.

  • @Lenny

    Read up on endodontic disease, biofilm mediated infection(s), elimination of bacterial biofilm from a root canal system, biofilms formed by root canal bacteria resists endodontic treatment measures. You should be able to understand the terminology.

    https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C32&as_vis=1&q=research+biofilm+formation+root+canal+&btnG=

    • Indeed I do, Sandra. It’s a shame you don’t understand any of it. Mind you, there’s very little you do understand.

      You’ve been quiet for a few weeks. I hope you’ve not been ill.

  • @Lenny

    I’m proud of you.

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