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Journal Issue
Publication
Removal of dental amalgam restorations in patients with health complaints attributed to amalgam: A prospective cohort study.
(2020-11) Björkman, Lars; Musial, Frauke; Alraek, Terje; Werner, Erik L.; Weidenhammer, Wolfgang; Hamre, Harald J
The Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services initiated a project including experimental treatment for patients with health complaints attributed to amalgam restorations. The aim was to evaluate changes of general health complaints in patients who participated in the project and had all amalgam restorations removed. The project was designed as a prospective cohort study and organised by the Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit in Bergen, Norway. The dental treatment was provided by the patient's local dentist. The main target group consisted of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms, attributed to dental amalgam restorations (Amalgam cohort). The primary comparison group consisted of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms without attribution to dental amalgam restorations (MUPS cohort). Primary outcome was self-reported general health complaints (GHC index) at follow-up 12-months after completed amalgam removal. In the Amalgam cohort, a significant reduction of GHC index from 43.3 (SD 17.8) at baseline to 30.5 (SD 14.4) at follow-up (mean reduction 12.8, SD 15.9; n = 32; P < .001) was observed. The change scores for GHC index indicated that the reduction of complaints was significantly higher (P = .004) in the Amalgam cohort compared with the MUPS cohort (mean reduction 1.2, SD 12.3, n = 28). After adjustment for age, gender, education and baseline GHC index, the mean adjusted difference was -8.0 (95% confidence interval from -15.4 to -0.5; P = .036). In a group of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms, which they attributed to dental amalgam restorations, removal of amalgam restorations was followed by a significant reduction of health complaints.
Publication
Case Cluster of RT-PCR COVID-19 Positive Patients with an Unexpected Benign Clinical Course With Vitamin D, Melatonin, Vitamin C, and Viscum Album
Hancock, Mark J.; Ketterl, Petra; Viñas, Xavier; Werthmann, Paul G.
Background: The SARS-COV-2 global pandemic has been noted to have a differential effect on those exposed depending on risk factors such as age, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Case presentation: We report a case series of 12 confirmed positive patients and 12 presumptive positive patients all of whom had either an entirely asymptomatic or relatively mild clinical course. 2 patients had active cancer, 3 patients were cancer survivors, 1 patient without cancer was 74 years old. All patients were treated early in their disease course with vitamin D loading (50,000iu daily for 3 days), 60 to 240mg melatonin, and 2000mg oral vitamin C. The 6 high risk patients and one 59 year old patient were treated with at least 2 intravenous doses of vitamin C. The 2 patients with active cancer received 75 grams of vitamin C (one daily, the other every other day). All of the high risk patients had a nearly asymptomatic clinical course and were tested after 10 days and all had a RT PCR for COVID-19 that was negative. The 17 remaining patients also had a relatively benign course though 4 patients (2 in their 20s, 2 in their 50s) received this treatment course later in the course of their illness, these were notably the only patients who had more than a mild sore throat or low grade fever. Conclusion: We report these unexpectedly positive clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients including patients with different risk factors, under supplemental vitamin C and D and melatonin. These supplements have a favorable safety profile and are already being suggested as potentially disease altering therapies in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.