Aug
Hg out of sight….
In the little room beyond my children’s in our office there is a door behind which the lights flash, sounds and shadows escape from under the door like a muffled Willy Wonka contraption held at bay. It is like this in many dental practices – some dark corner where the air compressor, vacuums and pumps run or chug away to run the various equipment. And sitting quietly, bashfully even, is a clear cylinder connected forward and aft by serious plumbing – our mercury separator, above 95% efficient. We are the only office in Santa Barbara using a separator, that we are aware of.
What is an amalgam separator? An amalgam separator in a device placed within the plumbing system of a dental office which captures mercury and other heavy metals produced by dental procedures tightly within, eliminating their passage into the the waste water lines outside of the dental office. The separator units, when full, are sent sealed to recovery facilities who extract the mercury and recycle it instead of discarding it as hazardous waste refuse.
I consider my separator as an essential part of my practice, like sterilizing instrumentation, and the use of ozone and recycling. Each is a part of the whole protecting patients and staff trust. The separator allows our office to responsibly protect the community of Santa Barbara as well.
Mercury from “silver fillings” in teeth goes into our community waste water lines. Mercury is the most toxic non radiation emitting metal. Much more toxic than arsenic or lead. A molecule of mercury is rated LD100 – at it’s lowest level it is expected to kill 100% of test animals under equal conditions.
Can you imagine being concerned about dumping paint, oil, and pesticides in the waste water and not being concerned about the (literally) gallons of mercury waste that comes from dental offices everyday? Once in the waste water pipes below ground, mercury amalgam settles down to the bottom of the pipes due to it’s heavy weight where it contaminates ground water and finds its way to our streams and oceans. Look in the Santa Barbara phone book, count the number of dentists, and picture all that mercury and heavy metal water refuse dumping into our local waste water.
Baywise.org of San Francisco sties that 52% of mercury reaching waste water treatment plants is from dental offices. Waste water treatment facilities are not designed to remove heavy metal such as mercury and silver. Because of this, separators are mandatory for dental offices in some communities, San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee, and Wichita. These are communities that exist as many communities do, in major water sheds. Sound familiar? Santa Barbara has no regulations regarding separators for dental offices. Some states have incentives and regulations which promotes their use. Almost all have found that asking for voluntary compliance sadly ineffective. It’s a shame.
It is interesting to note that professional groups who distribute information about separators, but don’t necessarily endorse them – precaution dentists not to use certain disinfecting solutions, to carefully monitor the level of sediment, to properly dispose of used canisters, filters and solids by relinquishing them to a correct hazardous waste authority, so as not to unbind mercury from the filters there by allowing mercury into the waste water, or contaminate land/ground waste sites. Isn’t that what we are already doing?
Two questions immediately come into mind. First, again, why do we pretend that mercury amalgam in the mouth still safe? Second, why isn’t mercury coming from dental waste water lines and physical scrap waste thru leakage or carelessness universally recognized a major toxic health hazards?
Amalgam separators are an effective, important part of being a responsible dental practitioner and community member. I wish every office was required to have them, but we have such a resistance to being told what to do. Separators are worth the expense and maintenance effort because it is the right thing to do for everyone. We can not tell our children we didn’t know better, or there wasn’t a solution. We do and there is.
-Cynthia C. Copeland, DDS, DIBDM, AIAOMT