After having dental bonding on her three front teeth, Sally felt as if she was in chronic PMS. This symptom would have been easily dismissed as such, but she was in post-menopause. Sally was aware that the plasticizer in dental bonding can be made of the synthetic estrogen bisphenol A (BPA.) She called her dentist to investigate the material used, and sure enough, BPA was a main ingredient.
There has been a lot of news coverage about plastics and epoxies containing BPA in recent years. The focus has been especially on its presence in baby products such as bottles, nipples, and toys. The New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof wrote an informative overview of BPA in Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies. The suspected health problems that 92 percent of us share have been found to have BPA in our urine. Kristof discussed how the lining in food cans contains BPA, among other sources.
In early 2010, the Food and Drug Administration voiced “some concern” about BPA ‘s safety. This includes effects on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children. BPA has also been linked to breast and prostate cancer, heart disease, and reproductive and sexual problems.
Synthetic estrogens
What does a synthetic estrogen do once it enters the body? Synthetic estrogens are part of a group of chemicals called endocrine disrupters. Basically what happens when you are exposed to an endocrine disruptor is that the body is expecting a natural hormone, such as estrogen, at a receptor site. The body takes in the chemical mimic of the hormone and begins to use it as it would the natural thing. Screech. Suddenly the body’s hormonal process malfunctions. In fact the “hormone” was a plastic, and couldn’t function in the much more complex way that the natural hormone would.
One of her dentist’s first questions, when Sally called him, was why hadn’t the bonding bothered her as much the last time he used it eight or so years earlier? Within a few weeks of the bonding, as synchronicity would have it, Sally read about a study that showed that “women in menopause are more prone to the BPA-associated health effects of inflammation and oxidative stress than either men or women who are still menstruating.”
It took seven months of back and forth with Sally’s dentist to come up with a solution. During that time, Sally gained 10 pounds and felt out of hormonal balance. A so-called BPA-free alternative bonding material that her dentist ordered arrived only to be revealed in the fine print that the material contained BPA, sealed in with polyurethane. Her dentist was reluctant to use something that could be as bad or worse.
Read the rest on Huffingon Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-b-bond/toxic-teeth—-bpa-dental_b_481326.html
