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Maybe it's just me..... but I just don't get this....

DENTISTS

(Just to make it clear this is probably just me & it is totally my opinion please bear with me.)

Dentists not only are they expensive, dang picky in their acceptance of insurance, and always full when you seem to need one or else on vacation but they seem to have a very devil may care attitude when it comes to mercury.

Mercury that funny fluid that used to be found in those glass thermometers that nurses, doctors, & parents insisted on shoving at or in you every time you sneezed. Mercury that funny fluid stuff that has a toxic hazard label with it. Mercury that everyone would caution you on how to clean up as it could cause problems when one of those thermometers broke.... Mercury that odd stuff that now they caution you to throw away any thermometers which have it & before you do that please check with the environmental people or your local haz mat agency (hazardous waste people) for the local regulations & rules.

IF the above is what people are now saying about Mercury. IF we have to take special precautions with mercury as it can make you really sick & damage the environment. IF there is any hint of truth to it. Why then do dentists still use it & WHY do we allow them to subject our children to it?

I am only asking this question because I have heard the dangers of mercury. I have been told that it is a hazard to the environment & people. I have been told by medical professionals to be careful what fish I feed my family do to its hazardous nature & how it can be found in fish. I have been advised by medical professionals to limit the amount of Tuna I feed my child (a favorite food) do to the risk of too much mercury being in the Tuna fish. I have heard pregnant women warned on the subject of mercury in fish & it's dangers to their health & the health of their unborn child. So why do we allow it to be put in the mouths of small children by dentists? Not to mention our own mouths.

What's that you say? Putting mercury in the mouths of children? No way!!! you scream. That couldn't possibly be happening. Oh but my friends it is happening.. everyday to someone out there. You may even have some in your own mouth as we speak. How can that be? I would know it. Well, if you have ever been the victim of a cavity. If you have any silver fillings in your mouth then you probably have mercury in your mouth too. Mercury is in the amalgam (silver colored) fillings of both old & new. So now my story........

My child has special health needs & I have been advised not to ever get silver fillings that contain mercury in them as it could be detrimental to my child's health. I listened to my child's doctors about fish intake so why not this also.

I have been trying to find a dentist to fix a tooth that my child has a cavity in for the past 6 months. I have been judged an irresponsible parent as my child's 6 month old cavity has not yet been fixed. I have explained my dilemma about trying to find a dentist who would accept my dental insurance & not use amalgam (silver mercury containing) fillings.

I have been scoffed at. I have been told that I should lower my standards & accept amalgam fillings. That I should accept the fact that my insurance covers amalgam fillings & go with it. If my child develops problems from the fillings well that's a shame but that I haven't a right to expect better do to my insurance status. I have made them gasp when I said that my insurance would also cover non-amalgam fillings as well & insist that only they be used. Because of my apparent defiance I have been requested not to come back by the dentists.

I have also been told to prove it. And this is what I have found. The dentists that for the last 6 months have judged me as defiant & have refused treatment based on my insurance, & have informed me that I should accept their treatment with amalgam fillings because they have my child's best interest at heart... really don't.

I have spoken with the insurance company & was told that they do pay more for the amalgam fillings & encourage their use over the non-amalgam fillings. That they would gladly pay for the non-amalgam if I could prove that it was medically necessary. I have talked to the billing departments at the dentist offices. I have found out that the reason the dentists don't do non-amalgam fillings is that my insurance company will pay more for them. It all has to do with reimbursement costs. They get more $$$ with amalgam fillings than if they don't use them & do non-amalgam. When I went back with my information in hand. 3 out of the 15 admitted it. They said yes they get more $$$ for using amalgam fillings. When I asked if I paid for the fillings I wanted used with cash up front would they do them & they still said no way. I was shocked. I was floored that these 15 dentists all knew that mercury was in the fillings, that it might not be the safest type of filling to use, that mercury might leak out of the fillings into the body, & that in my child’s case they probably weren’t the best choice but because of the $$$ they weren't going to do any different.

I was also told by a medical professional that mercury leaches out of amalgam fillings every time you eat/drink, grind your teeth, etc. I couldn’t live with that for my child.

The moral to this story is stick to your guns. Don’t back down & ask questions. Get it in writing & be patient eventually you will get what you need. I am happy to say that I did find a dentist who fixed the cavity with out using amalgam fillings. He wasn’t really thrilled but he did honor my request. I also found a second dentist who not only agreed to use non-amalgam fillings on my other child & also advised me that amalgam fillings aren’t the best to use due to the mercury but because they have been used for so long people don’t see the hazards in them. Kind of like the car. It’s been around for a really long time & it didn’t have seatbelts to start with. Now seatbelts are standard equipment. Someday it could be like that with the non-amalgam fillings. Thank you for listening.

Maybe it's just me....

I've recently started working in a school library. I'm just a volunteer and I'm new to the job so maybe that's why this was such a shock. Back in my younger days of Junior High I worked in my school's library. It was the first thing I did every day. I was responsible for opening that library so to speak. I had to take the books that were in the turned in bin and match them to the check out cards. I had to take them to the back and assess the damage done to them and make notes for fines and repair them if possible. I didn't get to do much else. I spent hours upon hours taping ripped pages, erasing pencil marks, pulling papers in the form of school work, bad report cards & notes out of the books. I didn't get much time with shelving so I really don't know my dewy decimal system but I do know that books are an escape from the hardness of day to day life. Books can be really good friends when your alone. And that by treating books with respect and doing a little work on them from time to time you can have them for a really long time.

So what's this got to do with maybe it's just me. Well I'm getting there. Like I said I just started volunteering so I may have the policy wrong but wanted you to know why I think the way I am.

I've spent the last 4 years listening in meetings and the halls of various schools in my town to the plea for more & better library books. We need books! We need variety! We need to do something. Well a kind hearted person donated a box of books to the library. The librarian looked through the box at the wide variety of selection and content. There were beginning books with lots of pictures. There were thick chapter books. There was a NEW Hardbacked Harry Potter Book. There were books on science and history. There were books with well known characters like Arthur, Berenstein Bears, Clifford. There were just some really nice books. I thought that these books would be warmly welcomed to the shelves or if nothing else offered to the teachers for their classroom libraries. I was wrong. They were uncerimoniously dumped by the garbage can to be hauled out as trash. I asked why? Doesn't the library need books? Can't the teacher use them? They're the wrong type I was told. I asked what she meant by that and she said that for the books to be used in the library they had to be hard bound books of good quality. These were only paper back and wouldn't hold up to the children's rough treatment. So I asked about HP and was told that she had already ordered 3 of that book and in 2 years time would have to get rid of at least one of those so it wasn't worth it. I asked another foolish question of wouldn't it be better to cancel one of those use the price of it to buy another much needed book for the library? I was told no. But the worst is yet to come. A book was turned in and as I was looking for the tag to know which pile it was to go into I discovered it was damaged. I asked the librarian where the tape was as I knew I could easily tape the pages back in as they hadn't totally fallen out yet just really loose. The librarian took the book looked ot see who was the last ot have it. And threw it in the trash. She said she'd bill a replacement to the kid who had it last. This was heart breaking to me as the only thing wrong with the book was the contents pages were loose & falling out. I could see where opening the book to the first chapter had seperated them in the binding. I've had books do that to me and know a little tape is a quick easy & lasting fix for a book just a year old. That's what made me sick. Seeing that book with just a few pages loose sitting in the trash and then listening to how the library needed money for books and how books are so necessary to a good education. It just really made me sad.

To me I think books that have an easy to repair problem like some loose pages that a little tape to reinforce would be worth repairing and saving. Here is a book of knowledge that is out of action cause of bad binding job or not enough glue used. This $20 book is headed to land fill, instead of back to the shelf to educate another mind. Granted not all repairs are that easy or worth it. Granted not all books can be or should be salvaged. But with money as tight as it, with cuts coming every where, why not try tosave what you can to use your resources wisely. That's what I've done. I've repaired books taht my kids have worn out from use. I've taped the pages where I can and I've done the best i can yes they look horrible but I've often found that the books that look the worst for ware are the books that are the most interesting and sometimes the most worthy to read. So maybe it's just me, coming from a non-throw away time to a highly throw it out one, that's wrong but then again maybe not.

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