by KYW's Mike Dunn
Emotional testimony as a City Council committee gave an initial OK to a bill requiring Philadelphia dentists to tell their patients when fillings contain mercury.
Among those testifying was Sara Moore-Hines, a psychotherapist who became ill after getting four fillings that were an amalgam of silver and mercury:
“Eventually I could no longer walk around the block. I came down with frequent colds and illnesses, and when I did get the flu, I wondered at times if I would survive. I started experiencing bouts of depression, which I had never had in my life, worry and anxiety out of nowhere.”
It took four years for Moore-Hines to be diagnosed with mercury poisoning and she recovered only after the fillings were replaced.
But a local dentist who soon will head the Pennsylvania Dental Association testified that the fillings are safe and are more affordable than those without mercury.
The City Council committee okayed a bill requiring dentists to inform patients when fillings contain mercury, and to buy devices that dispose of mercury from recovered fillings. The measure goes to the full Council.
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