This is a guest opinion column
In the United States, mercury occupies a strange and troubling double status. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) treats it as a hazardous substance that must be tightly controlled, captured, and kept out of the environment. Yet the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to approve mercury-containing dental amalgam as a “safe” material to be permanently implanted in patients’ mouths. This contradiction is not theoretical. It has real consequences for public health, environmental safety, and trust in federal regulation.
As a practicing dentist, I believe it is time to confront this inconsistency head-on. If mercury is dangerous enough to require special disposal rules, wastewater controls, and fish consumption warnings, it should not be considered harmless when placed inches from the brain, where it can release toxic vapor for years…