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INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
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Pierre Fauchard
("father of dentistry")

ON MERCURY

Pierre Fauchard (acknowledged "father of dentistry", early 18th Century) was nearly livid in his opposition to mercury anywhere on the human body (he did not specifically refer to mercury in the teeth; apparently this was a later invention -- a hundred years later!

Fillings of a paste-mixture (amalgam) of mercury and coin-silver were reportedly first used in about 1819 by Tavenu in France and Bell in England. (Source: T. Wilwerding, C.J. Vacanti, History of Dentistry, 1997-8, Creighton U.)

The following excerpt is taken from "The Surgeon Dentist or Treatise on the Teeth ..." (translated from Second Edition 1746 by Lilian Lindsay, 1946; p. 38-39):

• "Their [the teeth's] greatest enemy is mercury, vulgularly called quick-silver. Not only in itself but by the bad effects which it produces in the system, by corrosives with which preparations of mercury are mixed, or by the combinations it makes in our bodies with different principles by long retention, particularly when it is not properly excreted.
• "The effects of mercury are swelling of the gums which it corrodes and destroys; it acts in the same way on the membrane which lines the roots of the teeth, either internally or externally, it dessicates them so to speak, irradicates them and makes them fall out or destroys them by the caries to which it gives rise.
• "These bad effects are seen only too often, especially the bad effect of mercury when taken by people who do not know how to use it. Physicians and surgeons who have the most experience in venereal diseases, although they prescribe it with great caution, have difficulty enough in preventing the destruction of the teeth even with all the skill and industry of which they are capable.
• "Gilders of ormolu, makers of mirrors, plumbers, and all those who work in the mines are only too often the victims of the bad effects of mercury, particularly on their teeth."
  
  Presented on 17 Sept. 1999 to the "Health Practitioners Network", at Lowe's Hotel, Santa Monica, presented by Ms. Francene Lee and featuring Dr. David Kennedy, DDS, on fluoridation.
  S. H. Shakman
  INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE

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