I have a dentist appointment tomorrow

I happen to be quite excited about it. Really. I've been looking forward to it for almost a year now. I'm excited because I will finally be getting rid of a toxic substance in my mouth -- mercury.

There are 6 amalgam fillings in my mouth. For the uninformed, "silver" fillings are a mixture of several different metals (often silver, tin, copper, zinc, and mercury). The mercury content is roughly 50%. But wait, isn't mercury the second-most toxic element on Earth behind plutonium? Why yes, dear reader! Aren't you glad that the ADA has assured the American public that negligible amounts of mercury escape from the fillings and cause adverse reactions in only the small portion of the population that is "sensitive" to it? I feel so much better now!

Seriously though, I am looking forward to this. Yes, it will probably hurt. They are doing all 6 at once and I have at least 1 in each quadrant of my mouth. They are taking lots of precautions to avoid exposing me to any more mercury than they have to. I will have an alternate air source (will breathe through my nose), a dental dam, constant suctioning and cold water spray, and the dentist (Dr. Phil Davis in Asheville, NC) will be using the "cut and chunk" method rather than drilling the whole thing into oblivion. I think they also have this high-powered air filtration thing going in the room as well.

I suppose I am hoping that this will help with my thyroid condition. I knew a lady back in Raleigh that got hers out and she was able to go off her thyroid medication. (She was taking Armour thyroid for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, just like me.) And I suspect I have some yeast issues that I haven't been able to shake no matter how little sugar I eat. But even if none of that happens, I will just be happy to have it out of my mouth.