Civil War History Helps Explain How Current Dentists Can be So Ignorant About Mercury

Why do pro-mercury dentists resist change so vociferously? Is such resistance is unprecedented? Not al all.

According to Charlie G. Brown of, during the American Civil War, mercury’s use was prevalent, and even then controversial. Physicians in that era used it to treat soldiers for dysentery, typhoid, malaria, pneumonia, and syphilis.

But some physicians opposed mercury. An early hero of the mercury-free movement was the Surgeon General, William A. Hammond. Hammond banned its use by Army physicians, and immediately, the medical establishment started calling for his ouster. The American Medical Association defeated Hammond, but ultimately lost. Today, the Civil War use of mercury as a tonic is considered practically deranged.

According to Brown:


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