In third grade. We got to play with a ball of mercury.

I'm pretty sure we were the last class to do so. I think one of the parents found out and was knowledgable about the dangers of mercury and insisted that the school be decontaminated or something. If the students had been doing that every year, there was probably bits of mercury everywhere.

Expensive lesson for a private Catholic school.

I remember sitting in the school nurses office and the mercury thermometer broke in my mouth. Yes, I bit down on it. She acted like it was nothing. That was second grade, about 7-8 years old.

dont hold back on telling us about the fda vic lol

long ago (well, maybe not that long) we used to use glass thermometers in the nursery. every baby had one. shaking them down before use often caused breakage because they could slip out of your hand.

the mercury would bead up and slide all over the floor.
we'd have to call a special team to clean up the spill.

I use to bust the mecury out of radiator fuses and play with it. Yikes.

I loved the way this part of the article read . . .

"The FDA said it did not recommend that people who currently have mercury fillings get them removed.

The FDA must issue the new rules in July 2009, Long said.

Such a rule could impact makers of metal fillings, which include Dentsply International Inc and Danaher Corp unit Kerr."

You just gotta feel for those companies and their bottom line, don't ya?

Between the mercury in fillings, and nickel from caps/crowns . . . I'm thinking "House's" first guess would be "metal toxicity", eh? At least they wouldn't have to search my house to determine the cause.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...highlight=caps

Cherie

gosh ... I had braces for 3 years ... from 13-15 .... and had many dentist visits so that I could get fillings on tops and sides so the 'metal railroad tracks' would fit nice and snug!!

no wonder when I went to the dentist in December (when I still had insurance) .. he wanted to 'fix' my filling situation .. never said anything about mercury ...

now I want to go in!!

btw - I LOVE going to the dentist or orthodontists ... still have the cards they sent me for christmas and birthday (one has a rabbit with a vice on his head and teeth ... "We're working on it!")

I used to HATE going to the dentist. The smell of the place made me sick. (they used the old fashioned film x-rays and not the digital) The smell of developer made me really really ill. The entire office reeks of it. Plus, it's an old house that was converted into a dentist office. All the rooms are teeny and the whole place feels claustrophobic.

I didnt realize it was the smell of the x-ray film developer until I went to my new dentist. She uses digital x-rays, and has all the fancy updated equipment. I go for a teeth cleaning this week, and I'm not feeling the total panic that I normally feel. The teeth cleaning equipment is ultrasonic. Last december I had the first teeth cleaning that didnt hurt or freak me out.

I still do NOT like having fillings worked on. I about bolted off the chair last March when my dentist was replacing some fillings with composite. But at least the other stuff doesnt seem as bad anymore. Plus, my current dentist isnt a mean bully like the old one was.

I got my mom to switch to my new dentist. The old place was definately NOT handicap accessible. When my mom had her knee surgeries done, and had to go to the dentist for a filling or cap that came loose, I couldnt hardly get her into the building. (stairs everywhere) The new place is totally accessible, and no stairs. The exam rooms are huge with big windows and dentist and the tech both seem to know how to deal with older people who may be developing dementia or alzheimers (my mom is starting to show signs)