Hal Huggins
Encyclopedia
Hal Huggins is an American campaigner against the use of dental amalgam fillings and other dental therapies that he believes to be unsafe. Huggins began to promote his ideas in the 1970s and played a major role in generating controversy over the use of amalgam
. Huggins had his license to practice dentistry revoked in 1996 after a panel found him guilty of gross negligence
. However, he has continued to publish on the topic of mercury and human health and believes that dental amalgam and other dental practices are responsible for a range of serious diseases.
in 1962 from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1973, he became involved in the study and research of mercury toxicity and its impact on human health. Through the course of these investigations, Huggins earned an MS
from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
in 1989 with special emphasis in toxicology
and immunology
.
Huggins subsequently became a prolific campaigner against the use of amalgam dental fillings, creating the Huggins Diagnostic Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado
. At the Center, patients were charged up to $8,500 apiece for an intensive 2-week course of treatment including the removal of all amalgam fillings. Huggins claimed in his books that the Center's profits funded research and free care. The Center was closed in September 1995 after a series of lawsuits against Huggins alleging negligence and fraud. TIME
reported that despite Huggins's difficulties, some patients continued to swear by his treatments; former Enron
chairman Kenneth Lay
had his fillings removed by Huggins in 1991 and reported resolution of an "unexplained numbness" as a result.
Huggins received a series of warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for violating good manufacturing practices and marketing unapproved medical devices. In the mid-1980s, Huggins was investigated by the FDA for his marketing of the "Amalgameter", a device which claimed to detect "positively or negative charged dental fillings". The FDA found that the Amalgameter was a simple battery-powered ammeter
, but was being promoted with a variety of scientifically unsubstantiated claims about dental fillings. The FDA reported in 1989 that Huggins had ceased manufacturing the device, but that "many could be around to dupe unsuspecting dental patients for a long, long time."
In 1996, a Colorado state judge recommended that Huggins's dental license
be revoked, citing his use of "'deceptive yet seductive advertising' to trick chronically ill patients into thinking that the true cause of their illness was mercury." Huggins's license was subsequently revoked by the Colorado State Board of Dental Examiners for gross negligence
and the use of unnecessary and unproven procedures. TIME
reported the judge's conclusion that Huggins "diagnosed 'mercury toxicity' in all his patients, including some without amalgam fillings."
Huggins contended that the revocation of his license was politically motivated in retaliation for his claims that amalgam fillings caused disease and claimed that he had not worked as a dentist since 1984. His criticisms of dental amalgam were featured on 60 Minutes
.
Huggins has argued that amalgam can cause digestive problems such as Crohn’s disease and ulcers
, mood disorders such as depression and fatigue, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis
, scleroderma
and lupus
, high or low blood pressure, arthritis
, tachycardia
, mononucleosis
, and cancers such as leukemia
and Hodgkin's disease. In a paper published in Alternative Medicine Review in 1998, Huggins reported that changes in cerebrospinal fluid that are typical for multiple sclerosis remitted after the removal of amalgam fillings and root canals. He has claimed that dental care according to his understanding of dentistry has allowed wheelchair-using patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis to walk unassisted within weeks. These claims are inconsistent with mainstream scientific consensus on the causes of multiple sclerosis. A meta-analysis
examined a range of studies on if there was a link between multiple sclerosis saw a slight increase in the risk of multiple sclerosis associated with amalgam use, but noted that this was not statistically significant. Another study found that although there was a geographical relationship between dental caries
and multiple sclerosis, the use of dental amalgam was not associated with this disease. Although it has since been rejected, the possibility that amalgam fillings may contribute to multiple sclerosis was mooted in the medical literature in the 1960s.
Huggins's criticisms of dental care are not limited to amalgam fillings; he is also opposed to root canal
s that he alleges can cause focal infection
s and illness, and has claimed that implants can cause autoimmune disease.
According to a review published in the Journal of the American Dental Association
, Huggins "has attracted many followers, and his writings and media appearances have led some dentists to question the safety of amalgam restorations," but the review nevertheless concluded that "the evidence supporting the safety of amalgam restorations is compelling."
Dental amalgam controversy
The dental amalgam controversy refers to the conflicting views over the use of amalgam as a filling material mainly because it contains the element mercury...
. Huggins had his license to practice dentistry revoked in 1996 after a panel found him guilty of gross negligence
Gross negligence
Gross negligence is a legal concept which means serious carelessness. Negligence is the opposite of diligence, or being careful. The standard of ordinary negligence is what conduct one expects from the proverbial "reasonable person"...
. However, he has continued to publish on the topic of mercury and human health and believes that dental amalgam and other dental practices are responsible for a range of serious diseases.
Life and career
Huggins received his DDSDoctor of Dental Surgery
There are a number of first professional degrees in dentistry offered by schools in various countries around the world. These include the following:* Doctor of Dental Surgery * Doctor of Dental Medicine * Bachelor of Dentistry...
in 1962 from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1973, he became involved in the study and research of mercury toxicity and its impact on human health. Through the course of these investigations, Huggins earned an MS
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs is a campus of the University of Colorado system, the state university system of Colorado....
in 1989 with special emphasis in toxicology
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
and immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
.
Huggins subsequently became a prolific campaigner against the use of amalgam dental fillings, creating the Huggins Diagnostic Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
. At the Center, patients were charged up to $8,500 apiece for an intensive 2-week course of treatment including the removal of all amalgam fillings. Huggins claimed in his books that the Center's profits funded research and free care. The Center was closed in September 1995 after a series of lawsuits against Huggins alleging negligence and fraud. TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
reported that despite Huggins's difficulties, some patients continued to swear by his treatments; former Enron
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
chairman Kenneth Lay
Kenneth Lay
Kenneth Lee "Ken" Lay was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001...
had his fillings removed by Huggins in 1991 and reported resolution of an "unexplained numbness" as a result.
Huggins received a series of warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for violating good manufacturing practices and marketing unapproved medical devices. In the mid-1980s, Huggins was investigated by the FDA for his marketing of the "Amalgameter", a device which claimed to detect "positively or negative charged dental fillings". The FDA found that the Amalgameter was a simple battery-powered ammeter
Ammeter
An ammeter is a measuring instrument used to measure the electric current in a circuit. Electric currents are measured in amperes , hence the name. Instruments used to measure smaller currents, in the milliampere or microampere range, are designated as milliammeters or microammeters...
, but was being promoted with a variety of scientifically unsubstantiated claims about dental fillings. The FDA reported in 1989 that Huggins had ceased manufacturing the device, but that "many could be around to dupe unsuspecting dental patients for a long, long time."
In 1996, a Colorado state judge recommended that Huggins's dental license
Medical license
In most countries, only persons with a medical license bestowed either by a specified government-approved professional association or a government agency are authorized to practice medicine. Licenses are not granted automatically to all people with medical degrees...
be revoked, citing his use of "'deceptive yet seductive advertising' to trick chronically ill patients into thinking that the true cause of their illness was mercury." Huggins's license was subsequently revoked by the Colorado State Board of Dental Examiners for gross negligence
Gross negligence
Gross negligence is a legal concept which means serious carelessness. Negligence is the opposite of diligence, or being careful. The standard of ordinary negligence is what conduct one expects from the proverbial "reasonable person"...
and the use of unnecessary and unproven procedures. TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
reported the judge's conclusion that Huggins "diagnosed 'mercury toxicity' in all his patients, including some without amalgam fillings."
Huggins contended that the revocation of his license was politically motivated in retaliation for his claims that amalgam fillings caused disease and claimed that he had not worked as a dentist since 1984. His criticisms of dental amalgam were featured on 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
.
Research and beliefs
Huggins convened a conference on the biocompatibility of dental materials at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, with the assistance of a foundation called the Toxic Element Research Foundation that, according to Time magazine, is used by Huggins to promote his views. The participants unanimously signed a statement urging that amalgam fillings be banned immediately.Huggins has argued that amalgam can cause digestive problems such as Crohn’s disease and ulcers
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
, mood disorders such as depression and fatigue, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
, scleroderma
Scleroderma
Systemic sclerosis or systemic scleroderma is a systemic autoimmune disease or systemic connective tissue disease that is a subtype of scleroderma.-Skin symptoms:...
and lupus
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Systemic lupus erythematosus , often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage...
, high or low blood pressure, arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, tachycardia
Tachycardia
Tachycardia comes from the Greek words tachys and kardia . Tachycardia typically refers to a heart rate that exceeds the normal range for a resting heart rate...
, mononucleosis
Mononucleosis
Mononucleosis , is a disease most commonly caused by the Epstein-Barr virus . The EBV virus affects the lymphocytes- white blood cells that battle infections by attacking antibodies. Mononucleosis can also be caused by Cytomegalovirus , a herpes virus most commonly found in body fluids...
, and cancers such as leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
and Hodgkin's disease. In a paper published in Alternative Medicine Review in 1998, Huggins reported that changes in cerebrospinal fluid that are typical for multiple sclerosis remitted after the removal of amalgam fillings and root canals. He has claimed that dental care according to his understanding of dentistry has allowed wheelchair-using patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis to walk unassisted within weeks. These claims are inconsistent with mainstream scientific consensus on the causes of multiple sclerosis. A meta-analysis
Meta-analysis
In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. In its simplest form, this is normally by identification of a common measure of effect size, for which a weighted average might be the output of a meta-analyses. Here the...
examined a range of studies on if there was a link between multiple sclerosis saw a slight increase in the risk of multiple sclerosis associated with amalgam use, but noted that this was not statistically significant. Another study found that although there was a geographical relationship between dental caries
Dental caries
Dental caries, also known as tooth decay or a cavity, is an irreversible infection usually bacterial in origin that causes demineralization of the hard tissues and destruction of the organic matter of the tooth, usually by production of acid by hydrolysis of the food debris accumulated on the...
and multiple sclerosis, the use of dental amalgam was not associated with this disease. Although it has since been rejected, the possibility that amalgam fillings may contribute to multiple sclerosis was mooted in the medical literature in the 1960s.
Huggins's criticisms of dental care are not limited to amalgam fillings; he is also opposed to root canal
Root canal
A root canal is the space within the root of a tooth. It is part of a naturally occurring space within a tooth that consists of the pulp chamber , the main canal, and more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the surface of the root.-Root canal anatomy:...
s that he alleges can cause focal infection
Focal infection
Focal infection theory is the idea that a local infection affecting a small area of the body can lead to subsequent infections or symptoms in other parts of the body due either to the spread of the infectious agent itself or toxins produced from it....
s and illness, and has claimed that implants can cause autoimmune disease.
According to a review published in the Journal of the American Dental Association
Journal of the American Dental Association
The Journal of the American Dental Association is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal on dentistry published by the American Dental Association. It is freely available to the public after a one-year embargo....
, Huggins "has attracted many followers, and his writings and media appearances have led some dentists to question the safety of amalgam restorations," but the review nevertheless concluded that "the evidence supporting the safety of amalgam restorations is compelling."