Zinc Poisoning Caused by Dental Adhesive

[LikeACandleButNotQuite]

A friend has spent the last 3 years in rapidly declining health, become near enough crippled. Investigations into the cause have found that the zinc present in her dental adhesive (Fixident) has been corroding her bones and zapping her of her copper levels in her body. She used the product for 9 years, eventually stopping when it was realised that it was the cause of hr declining health.

It has been horrible to watch this decline, and recently she has tried to find others with the same prognosis, bu it is almost impossible as it is believed less than 100 people in the UK are affected by it. We did come across this artice this evening, and she was in tears of relief that someone else is going through what she is. Literally, symptom for symptom.

I am keen to see if ANYONE out there knows any more about it, knows anyone with it, has ever had any experience of it.

Though my friend is now on massive levels of copper suppliments, she is a little less weak, though it is something she will never recover from. She may not deteriorate any further, but will not improve.

If anyone can advise, or recommend a heavy traffic thread on here, I'd be so grateful

Thanks in advance

I'm a dentist and saw this on the news stand today.
I have never heard of such a thing.
I confess I was very skeptical , as the source is the Scottish Sun .
I have given out samples of fixodent for over 20 years and have never heard of anyone having a problem.

Please can you tell me more about your friend? Who has confirmed the zinc in the denture fix is to blame? Has it been proven?How old is your friend?

It was on an episode of House quite some time ago. I'm also a dentist and have never come across this in person or even in any literature.

I know it's only a TV program but the medicine is usually fairly sound, the guy had been using an entire tube a day. I would imagine that normal use whereby the paste is never swallowed wouldn't cause any problems, I can't imagine a huge amount is absorbed by the soft tissues of the mouth, if excessive paste is used then some of it is bound to be ingested.

Jasper it did seem odd to me that a diagnosis was given yet it seems so rare. Our local (North East) Dental Hospital has diagnosed her, with Zinc poisoning and informed her that the ingredient found in her dental adhesive was causing the deterioration. She subsequently stopped using the product and started on copper replacement, which has stopped the deterioration. She has had a second opinion, who also has confirmed this is the case. She is late forties.

It seems, from research undertaken by her and family that zinc was removed from the product mid eighties, and a zinc-free option produced, and then subsequently put back in and sold alongside the zinc-free option, which of course would give others the choice to avoid the ingredient, but does seem strange to me that they would produce an option without the ingredient.

Grumpy It is interesting that it was on a TV show, may have to try and stream that episode. I agree, it seems odd that what would be such a small amount could have the potential to cause such results, however it was used over a 9 year period, and I would imagine it is a case of her maybe being hyper-sensitive to the ingredient which has massivly increased her reaction to it. Maybe she has a very low resistance to it than than others.

Thank you to all for your advice

How terrible - poor woman. I know nothing about zinc poisoning or dentistry but it is the case that in medical terms everyone is individual with their own idiosyncracies - hence not everyone who takes a medicine (or is infected by a contagious disease) reacts the same way. What works for one patient doesn't for another, and what causes side effects in one person doesn't cause them in another. So it's perfectly plausible that some people are very sensitive to zinc, even if that number is extremely small.

I suspect you need to find a chemist (or a metallurgist? not sure that's right...) to find out more about zinc as well as talking to specialist dentists and doctors. IIRC there's a Royal College of Dentists or Dentistry, perhaps try them for starters?

www.schmidtandclark.com/dentures

Loads of stuff about it on youtube

Ooh, thanks Edam, and Claig, I am at work at the moment but will be looking at those YouTube's when I get home. Im also going to print out this thread for her and her family. I knew Mumsnet would help

Watched the videos and have sent the links. It is horrific!

I also know of a woman who has heavy metal poisoning from fillings, she has all sorts of sensory issues now (sees colours wrong, hears noises that aren't there, looses the ability to use her hands, arms, legs etc). Again, this was diagnosed by a neurologist and she has since had all of her fillings replaced. She is going through hell and has not come back to work after nearly 2 years, she is detoxing and having loads of different complementary therapies as she is desperate to return to normal.

I once nursed an old lady who had been regularly taking her Sterident Denture Cleaning tablets to cure her constipation