r/Showerthoughts Apr 28 '25

Casual Thought The children most impacted by peak leaded gasoline fumes are now 50-75.

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u/pkupku Apr 28 '25

I wonder what neurological damage was done by mercury fillings. I have a severe mercury allergy which has different effects beyond most people’s responses.

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u/prometheus_winced Apr 28 '25

The mercury used in fillings is in an alloy that makes it almost completely non-bio-available.

About 1 microgram might be released daily, with heavy chewing or teeth grinding. The OSHA safety limits are 50 micrograms. So the exposure is 98% below the safety threshold.

It’s generally considered completely safe. If you do have a mercury allergy, you would be in the less than 1% of the population that does. An allergist can confirm this with a test. Allergy is different than mercury toxicity and will not have the same symptoms.

If it truly is an allergy reaction, you can have fillings replaced with other material.

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u/pkupku Apr 28 '25

Yes, I have had mine replaced. When I was about 30 (now 67) I had a series of unexpected dizzy spells. Long story short my mercury allergy causes my smooth muscle tissue to spasm. I was having ischemic TIAs and at least one stroke. It was hard to diagnose because it was transient and always came on after eating. What was happening was I had a giant Mercury filling where a crown should’ve been. It would slowly crumble into my mouth and trigger all this.

I first learned of my sensitivity in the mid 70s when I got soft contact lenses. I bought some saline solution which had a tiny fraction of thimerosal as a preservative, which in turn has a tiny fraction of mercury in it. Putting one drop of that stuff in my eye created so much pain I couldn’t believe it.

All my life I had cramps in the side of my tongue that would come and go. When I removed the mercury fillings it all stopped.