Flora Stay: There are certain individuals that have allergies to mercury, but… patients that would come to me and say, ‘so-and-so told me if I have all of my mercury fillings replaced immediately, then my...’ whatever disease they had would be cured. It was very sad because a lot of them were desperate… I feel this way about mercury, if you have an inventory list that you go through – again you’ve done your homework, you’ve made sure you do have an allergy or a sensitivity to mercury – then by all means, remove it immediately because there are those individuals that do. My other feeling about it is there are so many great options for filling materials. There’s porcelain, there’s composite, there’s gold; that if you need to replace any of your fillings, or you need to get new fillings, don’t get the silver mercury ones. The other ones look nicer and then you don’t even have to think about ‘is it good, is it not’. Again, I’m leery and I warn consumers if you go to a holistic dentist that says ‘oh, every single’ – I’ve had patients that have come to me and said ‘so-and-so told me that these teeth have to be pulled’ – and there’s nothing wrong with those teeth – ‘because it’ll totally cure me.’ Anytime I hear things like that, bells should go off because to get well, most of the time, it encompasses many factors that we have to deal with. There is no one miracle cure. Even pharmaceutical drugs, there’s side effects.
Lyle Hurd: Now to make a point, it’s a real—
Flora Stay: Absolutely.
Lyle Hurd: Alright, just one quick thing. Are these the kinds of things you talk to the students you teach about?
Flora Stay: I certainly do. I absolutely do because I want every single student that graduates; whether they are a dental hygienist or dentist, to really… our job is to teach the consumer to take better responsibility, so that no matter where they live, they can partner with a dentist. They don’t have to drive a hundred miles for a particular dentist.
Lyle Hurd: Tell you what; we’re going to have to leave the whole idea on picking a dentist to our next discussion if that’s alright. Well, thank-you very much. It’s really terrific to hear these things and I’m sure we’re all learning a lot from them. Thank you.
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