Rate of arthritis increased with number of dental amalgam filling surfaces
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The rate of reported arthritis increased with the number of dental amalgam filling surfaces found in adults, with the rate peaking at four to seven dental amalgam filling surfaces before decreasing, according to results.
David A. Geier and Mark R. Geier, MD, examined patient demographics, oral health examinations and medical condition surveys relating to arthritis diagnosis among 86,305,425 weighted-persons with one or more dental amalgam filling surfaces (exposed group) and 32,201,088 weighted-persons with one or more other dental filling surfaces (unexposed group) in the 2015 to 2016 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. Researchers employed survey logistic regression and survey frequency modeling with and without adjustment of covariates.
Results showed patients in the exposed group had a 7.68-fold and 4.89-fold increase in the unadjusted and adjusted models, respectively, for the risk of reported arthritis. Researchers found a six-fold significant increase in arthritis in the exposed group compared with the unexposed group, as well as a significant bimodal dose-dependent relationship between dental amalgam filling surfaces and the arthritis rate. Although the rate of reported arthritis increased with increasing dental amalgam filling surfaces, researchers noted a decrease in the rate of reported arthritis in patients with greater than six dental amalgam filling surfaces. The rate of reported arthritis significantly decreased among patients with greater than 13 dental amalgam filling surfaces compared with patients who had four to seven dental amalgam filling surfaces, according to results. Researchers found a significant association between dental amalgam filling surfaces and arthritis risk, as well as a dose-dependent dental amalgam filling surface associated immune-stimulation/immune-suppression with arthritis risk.
Researchers estimated an additional $96,835814 are spent on annual medical costs and $184,797,680 are lost in annual wages from reported new onset arthritis associated with dental amalgam filling surfaces.
“Because mercury causes a cascade of damage, an incredible amount of harm can result from a minute exposure to mercury. In addition, mercury displaces essential metals like iron inside the mitochondria. Iron then short-circuits energy production into free radical oxidation which leads to fatigue and, eventually, mitochondria death,” David Kennedy, DDS, past president of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, told Healio Orthopedics. “Once mercury is banned, over time, we will have a whole new perspective on the wide-ranging damage minute exposures have caused.”
References:
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-research-links-dental-amalgam-mercury-fillings-to-arthritis-301316647.html
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