I talk about BPA a lot because not a week goes by that I don’t hear about it in the news. It seems that not enough can be said about the potential negative effects of this chemical. It’s in most plastics, most food cans, baby bottles, and now…it’s at your child’s next dental appointment.
A dental resin used for dental fillings and tooth sealant has been found to contain BPA that remains in saliva for up to three hours after dental work. BPA, or bisphenol A, is a hormone disruptor that may be especially harmful to children.
More products are becoming available that are BPA free, like plastic water bottles and even BPA free canned food. So how can you avoid BPA at the dentist? Well, authors of a study in the journal Pediatrics suggest rinsing with water for 30 seconds after the dental work is completed to reduce the amount of BPA. I guess that’s a start. But it’s still a scary thought that our children our ingesting this toxin while trying to preserve their dental health.
It just goes to show that chemicals are everywhere. As a matter of fact, another BPA study found that hormone disruptors, like BPA, phthalates and PCBs, are found indoors, outdoors, in homes of the poor and homes of the affluent. Yet another recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health found evidence that current levels of BPA exposure is dangerous to our health. With more than 8 billion pounds of BPA made per year, I’d say it’s a big problem.
I call it a toxic soup that we are swimming in. That’s why it’s so important to do what we can to avoid toxins and live clean.