MANILA – The International Association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology – Philippines or IAOMT-Phils. in collaboration with non-profit environmental organization BAN Toxics have jointly called on the Philippine Dental Association House of Delegates to pass a critical resolution calling for a cessation on the use of dental amalgam on children.
“Let us stop mercury from damaging children’s health and welfare,” said Dr. Lillian Lasaten Ebuen, President of IAOMT-Phils as she submitted a resolution entitled “Protecting Children and Sensitive Populations from Dental Amalgam Exposure” to the House of Delegates, the law making body of the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) on November 11.
Dental amalgam or “silver filling” is an alloy of mercury (50%), silver (22-32%), tin (14%), copper (8%) and other trace materials. Due to its mercury component, pediatricians and toxicologists acknowledge that it is a potent toxic substance that causes adverse effects on neurologic, gastrointestinal, and renal organ systems of patients.
Ebuen explained that “Mercury in all its forms is toxic to children especially because this stage is critical for their brain development and maturation. Moreover, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) recently confirmed that mercury is a known human carcinogen.”
Aside from the protection of children’s health, the proposed resolution aims to align the PDA with Administrative Order No. 21 of the Department of Health (DOH) directing the gradual phase-out of mercury in Philippine health care facilities and institutions.
BAN Toxics Executive Director Atty. Richard Gutierrez said: “Aside from the positive health effects to be gained, a total ban on the use of dental amalgam on children will help slow down rampant mercury trade and use.”
In its study, BAN Toxics has uncovered that there are dental clinics, especially in localities that have small-scale gold mining, that are acting as trading post for mercury, selling the toxic substance to small-scale miners and buying their gold.
Statistics from COMTRADE for the period 2007-2011 show that the Philippines imported more than 65,000 kilograms of inorganic and organic compounds of precious metals including dental amalgams.
Public health interest groups such as the IAOMT-Philippines and BAN Toxics are calling for the phase-out of dental amalgam in a bid to protect children, the most vulnerable segment of our population, from a highly toxic substance that poisons their health and development.
Their call is also in line with the provisions of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which pushes the phase down of mercury in fillings primarily through promotion of oral health awareness campaign to school children and parents for dental caries prevention, and the use of mercury-free tooth filling alternatives that are readily available, scientifically proven to be safe, and more economically affordable. It also recommended the creation of other dental programs to minimize the need for fillings.
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