The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) is pleased to announce that its renowned mercury safety course is now available to dentists around the globe in English, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Additionally, the course is being offered on a new, user-friendly online learning system so that dental professionals everywhere can learn how to reduce mercury exposure from amalgam fillings, all of which contain approximately 50% mercury.
The curriculum is based on the IAOMT’s Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART), which is a series of special precautions dentists can apply to protect patients, themselves, their office staff, and the environment by immensely decreasing the levels of mercury that can be released during the amalgam filling removal process. The IAOMT’s mercury safety course includes pertinent peer-reviewed journal articles on the subject, as well as video activities and hands-on scientific resources that explain the purpose of the safety measures and how to enact them in a clinical setting.
“This is a landmark moment for dentistry,” explains David Edwards, DMD, IAOMT President. “Mercury-containing, silver-colored dental fillings have been used since the 1800s and are still being used today. However, the nations of the world recently agreed to reduce mercury use with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s Minamata Treaty on Mercury. So, it’s clearly time for dentists to learn these crucial, up-to-date practices for mercury safety.”
The IAOMT has examined scientific literature related to dental mercury since the non-profit organization was founded in 1984. This research has led the group to educate others about the important need to end using mercury, a known neurotoxin, in dental amalgam fillings due to the serious health risks it poses to patients and dental professionals, and the devastating impact of harmful releases of dental mercury into the environment.
The IAOMT is an accredited member of UNEP’s Global Mercury Partnership and was involved in the negotiations leading to the Minamata Treaty on Mercury. IAOMT representatives have also been expert witnesses about the need to end dental mercury before the US Congress, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Canada, the Philippines Department of Health, the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, and other government bodies around the globe.
FEATURED IMAGE CAPTION: Dentist and assistant utilizing the IAOMT’s Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART), which dentists can now learn in a course that is being offered in multiple languages.
