Irish Examiner View: Slow to change - Dentists still using mercury

As our knowledge expands we identify new solutions for old problems.

We sometimes do the reverse too: We identify new problems with old solutions. We no longer use asbestos in buildings; symphysiotomies are no longer common.

Mercury was, before science intervened, used as a diuretic, a disinfectant, and a laxative.

Mercury was also once used to treat syphilis.

In the last century, it was given to children as a wormer or a laxative. It has been banned in American medicine but is widely available and used in other countries.

One of those places may be your dentist’s surgery.

A report conducted for the EPA found that dentists still use mercury amalgam for fillings despite 2017 EU guidelines that dental practitioners should limit its use.

The study, conducted by Cork University Dental School and Hospital, found that cost was a factor and that public patients were far more likely to be offered a treatment involving mercury than private patients.

Most dentists — 60% — supported ending the use of amalgam within 10 years. At a moment of profound and immediate change, that timescale seems wishful thinking.