Here’s how RFK Jr. bans “silver” fillings in American dentistry

As a presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy has pledged to stop the federal home quarantine with a “Penn stroke.”

Today, his nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., can do the same. By ending the continued use of toxic mercury in federal programs, we make Americans and our environment safer. Mercury is the main substance (over 50%) in amalgam products, and fortunately, it has been mistakenly labelled as a “silver” filling for over a century, in a sharp decline in America.

“Pen strokes” is an order for public health services and Indian medical services to avoid selling amalgam, instead buying only mercury-free American-made dental materials.

Dental amalgams owes a silvery appearance to the large amount of mercury in each filling. Several studies have shown that it is sufficient to pollute small lakes. Amalgam is a source of primitive prewar wars used or restricted by developed countries around the world. In the final year of the first Trump administration, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning not to plant amalgam in the mouths of Americans in a broad category, including young children. Pregnant women, breastfeeding, or pregnancy planning women. and those with kidney or neurological conditions affected by metal sensitivity. In other words, it is about one-third of the country’s population.

Both major US dental products, Dentsply and Envista, have quickly and carefully stopped production of amalgam. Many dentists also listened to the phone and switched to mercury-free dentistry. The end of the story? still.

Unfortunately, our federal government is not fully complying with the FDA’s recommendations for amalgam. In the four years between the two Trump administrations, some agencies have simply ignored the FDA’s safety recommendations completely. Mercury-based filling continues to enter the mouths of American Indian children, pregnant military servicemen, and veterans with kidney and neurological problems.

Obstacle? Top bureaucrat: The top dental staff who seem trapped in saying, “This is the way we’ve always done it.” Admiral Timothy Ricks, chief dental officer of public health services, refused to meet with the National Medical Association, an amalgam opposition, on implementing the FDA’s recommendations. The chief dental officer of Michael Johnson, his successor to public health services, did the same. There were no meetings with opponents of mercury-based fillings.

Where will the US government get this amalgam? Mainly from imports. The opportunistic Australian company, Southern Dental Industry, has gained market share for two American amalgam producers leaving. Therefore, during Trump’s terms, the federal government supported the Australian economy with substantial purchases of toxic substances that the FDA described as a health risk for millions of Americans.

The environmental impact of mercury filling is equally serious. The EPA regulations adopted by the first Trump administration pointed out that dental amalgam poisons the fish that children eat, often causing permanent brain damage.

Amalgam is banned entirely in 41 countries, including the entire European Union. Amalgam is prohibited for use in children or generally non-use in 35 other countries. The transition to modern dentistry has left the US behind.

Earlier in his career, as a full-time environmentalist, RFK Jr. was on the riverbank of Hudson. Focusing on the clean Hudson River, he repeatedly warned of dangers to fish (and humans) from the main sources of mercury. His interest in ending the use of dental amalgam continued between the public interest groups he ran with: the World Mercury Project and the Children’s Health Defense. He has a deep understanding of the issue of mercury. Now he has the power to end the use of mercury-based dental amalgams in federal programs forever.

RFK Jr. can do it with pen strokes, as his uncle Jack did 63 years ago.

Charles G. Brown is www.mercury-free.org, executive director of dental consumers.