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Dr Hal Alan Huggins, or "Doc," as he was affectionately known, was almost fanatical about the health of his patients and the safety of the materials and procedures he and other dentists used. It was a cause he was completely unaware of when he graduated from the University of Nebraska School of Dentistryin 1962. However, the subject of patient safety completely dominated and defined the last 40 years of his life. He even spent his final weeks struggling to finish the remaining chapters of his latest book about the dangers of dental implants.
It started in 1973 when he met Dr Olympio Pinto, a dentist from South America who had been studying the effects of mercury from dental amalgam, which contains 50% mercury. After Dr Huggins gave a talk at an American Dental Association (ADA) convention, Dr Pinto pulled him aside and shared with him his findings that the mercury in amalgam fillings leaked and, importantly, caused diseases in patients he had in Brazil.
After reviewing the evidence, Dr Huggins became convinced that the mercury did leak and did cause diseases. That finding put him in direct conflict with the ADA, which claimed it to be safe. Owing to their disagreement, the ADA waged a persecution and discrediting campaign against Dr Huggins that lasted for the next 40 years.
Dr Huggins was an early adopter of the concept of integrative medicine, and he is considered the grandfather of the holistic dental...