Why do dentists use mercury?

Dear editor:

I find it interesting that it's still legal to condense mercury-containing fillings (amalgams) into a persons' teeth/mouth in this country, yet if a couple of drops of mercury spill in a school lab the feds say we have to shut the entire school down until it's cleaned up.

Elemental mercury does extrude out of an amalgam when it is being condensed, especially if it happens to be a "wet" mix. Mercury containing amalgam usually doesn't completely harden for up to an hour in a 98+ degree mouth. The article in last week's paper states that mercury is volatile/toxic at 68 degrees Fahrenheit thus the MHHS lab had to be quarantined and cleaned until it wasn't "hot" anymore.

I don't think the scientific answer to this irony is somewhere in the middle. Europe has banned amalgam fillings for many years. Many health trends in Europe express themselves in the USA eventually. Could politics, pride and tradition have anything to do with this scenario? I've rarely used dental amalgam during my 20-year career but not because I thought it was unsafe. It's ugly esthetically and it very often weakens teeth, thus creating a great career for me to remove it when deemed necessary either cosmetically or functionally.

John E. Goodrich, DDS, LLC