Amalgam Fillings

The request was partially successful.

Dear Northern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland),

1 Does the Northern Health and Social Care Trust recognise that a small percentage of patients can suffer allergic reactions to mercury contained in amalgam fillings ?

2 Does the Northern Health and Social Care Trust have a policy document and protocol in place for dentists to recognise the symptoms of an allergic reaction to amalgam, mercury or mercury poisoning? Is this policy passed onto dentists performing work on NHS patients?

3 In the past 5 years has the Northern Health and Social Care Trust ever paid dentists to remove amalgam fillings causing allergic reactions? If so can you break how much was spent year by year?

Yours faithfully,

Barry Adams

Governance, Info, Northern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland)

Thank you for your email which has been received by the Information
Governance Department and will be responded to in due course.

Dear Northern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland),

If the Northern Health and Social Care Trust has a policy in place for dentists to follow can I have a copy of this also when answering my above request?

Yours faithfully,

Barry Adams

FOINorthernTrust@infreemation.co.uk,

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

Our ref: FOI/809
05/05/2023

 

By Email: [FOI #977995 email]
 

Dear Barry Adams

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – INFORMATION REQUEST

 

Thank you for your request for information received by us today,
requesting information about Amalgam Fillings.

Your request is being dealt with under freedom of information requirements
and will be answered within 20 working days.

In the interim should you have any queries about your request, please do
not hesitate to contact us – our contact information is outlined below in
the footnote.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

INFORMATION GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT

Should you wish to reply to this email, please be careful not to amend the
information in the ‘subject’ field. This will ensure that the information
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automated process; the information will not be read by a member of our
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Information Governance Department, Causeway House, 8E Coleraine Road,
Ballymoney, Co Antrim, BT53 6BP, TEL: 028 2766 1293.

FOINorthernTrust@infreemation.co.uk,

1 Attachment

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

Our ref: FOI/809
11/05/2023

 

By Email: [FOI #977995 email]

 

Dear Barry Adams

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – INFORMATION REQUEST

 

Thank you for your request for information.  Please find attached the
Trust's response.  

Trust decisions in relation to the release of information that the Trust
holds are governed by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, the Data
Protection Act (DPA)/GDPR 2018 and other pieces of associated legislation.

If you are dissatisfied with the Trust’s response, you may request an
Internal Review, in writing to the address in the footnote or by email to
the Data Protection Officer, Mrs Nicola Lyons, at the address below.

[1][email address]

I trust that the information provided is helpful to you.  However, if I
can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

IF ISSUED BY EMAIL –

Should you wish to reply to this email, please be careful not to amend the
information in the ‘subject’ field. This will ensure that the information
is added directly to your case. However, please be aware that this is an
automated process; the information will not be read by a member of our
staff until your case is allocated to a request handler.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

INFORMATION GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT

Enc. [INSERT CONTENT REF.]

Information Governance Department, Causeway House, 8E Coleraine Road,
Ballymoney, Co Antrim, BT53 6BP, TEL: 028 2766 1293.

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear [email address],

Good morning,

Thank you for your reply. You quoted evidence from 2003 about only 100 confirmed cases showing allergic reactions to amalgam.

May I bring to your attention to a paper article from 2012,

https://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/12/3...

Quotes:
1.The Scottish Government however have said the fillings are safe but have already paid for 12,000 mercury fillings to be removed from NHS patients over the past five years including almost 2,000 last year.

2.A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government believes that amalgam fillings are safe to use, which is a view supported by the other UK health departments and the British Dental Association.

3.“In terms of medical conditions, if there is a proven allergic reaction to a constituent metal of an amalgam filling which is causing oral symptoms for the patients, a consultant may recommend replacement of the amalgam fillings.

4.“This is quite rare and has to be seen against 1,005,000 amalgam fillings placed in 2011-12 but only 1,900 replaced on the recommendation of a consultant.”

If consultants within the NHS are recommending the removal of 1900 fillings within a one year span it greatly brings into question the information you gave me about only 100 having reactions to amalgam fillings.

It seems strange that one part of the NHS would be removing amalgams and another part thinking they perfectly safe.

Yours sincerely,

Barry Adams