Electromagnetic Effects in Inhomogeneous Materials

Sorry Mr. Walsh, but you (and some others) are the ones who are putting forth the theory that "electrical potentials generated by amalgam fillings are able to dissipate electrical energy through the nerves in people's heads" and that these electrical currents are large enough to cause harm.

Since your theory contradicts the prevailing wisdom, then you (and your allies) are the ones who are obligated to provide the experimental data to prove your assertions.

A metaphor for this point is follows:

A UFO researcher presents a report about that describes an incident where several witnesses saw an alien spacecraft. Then UFO researcher triumphantly declares that scientists have been unable to come up with an explanation that could attribute the incident to natural causes.

WRONG, other scientists are under no obligation to provide proof that the incident is attributable to natural causes. The UFO researcher is the one who is obligated to provide proof that the witnesses saw an alien spacecraft.

Paul D. Oosterhout I work for SAIC (but I don't speak for SAIC)

I still think that you are missing the point.

It is beyond reasonable doubt that metal amalgam dental fillings generate electrical potentials with magnitudes of up to 350 millivolts. See:

And it has also been demonstrated experimentally that these potentials quickly re-establish themselves whenever they are momentarily discharged. See:

The resting potential of the human neurological synapse has a magnitude of only 70 millivolts.

However, it appears that experimental investigations to determine whether or not the electrical potentials generated by amalgam fillings are able to dissipate electrical energy through the nerves in people's heads have never been carried out.

The adoption of metal amalgams for use in restorative dentistry (nearly

200 hundred years ago now) was quickly followed by the rise to prominence of psychiatric medicine in our societies.

This combination of observations gives rise to the following hypothesis:

"Metal amalgam dental fillings are electric batteries which are able to dissipating electrical energy through the nerves in people's heads and, in so doing, make them unhappy. In extreme (though not necessarily unusual) cases they cause permanent neorological injury which is not repaired by the removal of the fillings."

Now here's the point which I think you are missing.

Without the necessary experimental investigations to determine whether or not amalgam fillings do dissipate their electrical energy through people's nerves, then any assertion that this hypothesis is incorrect in any part is NOT based in science.

And your "prevailing wisdom" is just guesswork. The accurate scientific understanding of nature cannot be established by guesswork alone. This is because guesswork can be, and often is, falsely influenced by the emotional priorities of the guesser. You're taking the line that, "We couldn't possibly have been so ignorant about something so important for so long." This is UNSCIENTIFIC reasoning.

And I wonder if, when you consider whether or not the hypothesis stated above might be correct or not, you are honest enough to admit that you don't know.

(I think that if you were this honest then you would also recognise that a part of the obligation for carrying out the missing investigations lies with you as well.)

Keith P Walsh

OK, I admit it, I don't know. It all sounds very plausible.

Now, if we could only find an individual who has the drive and perseverance to push ahead and do the necessary experiments and epistemological work...

Paul O.

Please note that voltages are not energy nor are they current. Please get your terminology straight. The same goes for your sources. Note also that if the potentials that you indicate are present at the nerve- then nerve firing would occur- ouch is the normal reaction. Do amalgams hurt?

I do not confuse voltage with current, nor with energy, nor with anything else.

You only imagine that I do.

When an electrical potential (voltage) arises in an electrically conductive circuit then a current flows and (neglecting for the sake of this argument the possibility of any "perfect" conductor being present) energy is dissipated to the surroundings.

These effects are intimately connected with each other, and in describing their simultaneous occurence in any physical system concisely it is possible to provide opportunists such as yourself with a chance to convince themselves (and perhaps others who may be similarly motivated) that an erroneous assertion has been made.

However, when an electrical potential (voltage) drives a current in a conductive circuit the tendency is for the potential to diminish, or be "dissipated".

In the case of amalgam potentials, the neurological fibres leading from the teeth provide electrically conductive paths "through" which the voltages might be dissipated by driving an electrical current along them (remember that we know of no experimental evidence to indicate that the most sensitive measuring devices currently available are not able to detect such electrical currents in nerve fibres in the vicinity of teeth with amalgam fillings).

And of course, as we have already stated, when this happens energy is dissipated to the surroundings.

Now, it has been demonstrated experimentally that metal amalgam dental fillings generate electrical potentials with magnitudes of up to 350 millivolts.

You can read all about it at:

And it appears that these electrical potentials are generally always present, because other studies have demonstrated that they quickly re-establish themselves whenever they are momentarily discharged. See:

I challenge you to demonstrate that these sources are not accurate.

Keith P Walsh

By the way, when a static electrical charge is discharged via the gap between your hand and a metal doorknob, the "ouch" that you feel is due to the muscular spasm induced momentarily in the end of your finger. There are no muscles in the upper or lower mandibles where the human neurological system is connected to the teeth. However there are some very sensitive organs quite close by. Did you ever read that Vincent van Gogh complained of "ringing in the ears"? No-one ever told him he had "tinnitus". (It was almost 100 years later when the medical profession gave this condition a name.) They just told him he was crazy. One thing's for certain - he never attended a Led Zeppelin concert. (Although apparently he did have rather bad teeth.)