5. 150 Years of Successful Use American Dental Association's: Special Report In the statement of confidence in amalgam, the ADA no longer maintains that the safety of this dental implant has been scientifically proven but relies on the anecdotal opinion of 150 years of "successful" use. ADA states, "The strongest and most convincing support we have for the safety of dental amalgam is the fact that each year more than 100 million amalgam fillings are placed in the United States." IAOMT Response This is a chilling thought. It should be cause for concern that approximately seventy-two tons of mercury are used annually in dentistry, much of it being implanted in the teeth of North Americans without any proof of safety. "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" (Carl Sagan). Historically numerous common products were thought to be safe; for example asbestos, lead, and DDT. In each case the scientific concerns were immediately discounted by the industry responsible for the production or use of the material and often the assertions of safety were initially supported by the responsible government agencies. After a period of time as the evidence became overwhelming and legal liability impossible to ignore, they were regulated or withdrawn from the market. Each of these products demonstrated pathology after a latency period of chronic low dose exposure as does mercury. Moreover, the resulting pathology from mercury tends to be of a medical nature and would not be apparent to most dentists. Thus, in the case of amalgam mercury exposure, if a health problem should exist, most dentists are not trained to diagnose such a condition and most physicians would not be aware of the possibility that mercury from fillings might have induced the pathology.