E. Blaurock-Busch, PhD

Palladium is a silver-white ductile and malleable metal that belongs to the platinum group. Its atomic weight is 106; its melting point 1557 degrees Celsius. Palladium is found in the platinum mines of Russia, Canada and Columbia, and is used in electrical contacts, as a catalyst and in gold, silver and copper alloys. The use of Palladium (Pd) in dentistry dates back to 1986, and health insurance supported its use for what seem to be economic reasons only. German holistic medical doctors refer to palladium as the "fool's gold" of dentistry, saying it may be more dangerous than mercury.

The amount of Palladium used in the making of dental crowns vaires considerably. The more durable "gold" or "silver" filllings or crowns may contain up to 78.5% of this heavy metal. Like mercury, palladium is biomethylated in the digestive tract and once synthesized, these methylated metals are invariably more toxic than their inorganic substrates. This toxicity is thought to be due to the nonpolar nature of many organometallic compunds which allows them to diffuse rapidly into and through cell membranes. Dr. Elef Karkalis, MD of Oppenheim, Germany believes that methylated palladium is more toxic than methylated mercury, which is known to cause severe neurological disorders, including insanity. Methyl mercury poisoning has affected people in Japan, Guatemala, the Soviet Union and Iraq and the industrial dumping of mercury into Lake St. Clair touched off a hunt for mercury-contaminated fish that invariably caused human illness.

Since paladium is easily methylated, it is considered to be equally or possibly more dangerous to health than mercury, and the extensive use of palladium amalgams may indeed be a fool's choice. By exhanging gold with other metals such as nickel, copper, cobalt, gallium or silver, this replacement herapy may be more expensive healthwise. Dr. Karkalis is most concerned about the enzyme-blocking function of palladium.

He specifies early symptoms of palladium overexposure as: