And so we see the passing of perhaps the biggest heavyweight fighter in dentistry the world has known for many decades.
Dr. Hal Huggins died on November 29, 2014. In honor of ‘the Doc’ we would like to recount some of the many ways Dr. Huggins contributed to us having a safer, healthier world.
Despite persecution by regulatory agencies through his entire career, Dr. Huggins pressed on to research the root causes of disease. Formally trained as a dentist, Dr. Huggins identified profound connections between dental health and whole body health. Like other heroes such as Weston Price and George Meinig, who sacrificed their fame and reputations for what they believed was true, Dr. Huggins’ commitment to seeking the truth deserves respect even from those who opposed his work.
The words of Mahatma Gandhi come to mind when pondering the life Dr. Huggins chose to lead.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Dr. Huggins wrote It’s All in Your Head: The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness, his scathing criticism against conventional dental protocols in 1989. At first, the industry ignored him. This quickly shifted to laughter (a quick search on quackwatch will show plenty of entries for Hal Huggins). Over the years, Dr. Huggins held to his beliefs that conventional dental procedures were causing systemic imbalances in the wellness of otherwise healthy individuals.
In 1996, in shifting to more of the ‘fight’ zone, a Colorado state judge recommended that Dr Huggins’ dental license be revoked. Unphased by this attack, in 1999, Dr. Huggins wrote Uninformed Consent: The Hidden Dangers in Dental Care followed in 2002 by his stellar book Solving the MS Mystery. His last book published is Patient Empowerment and resonates very closely with our message here at OraWellness.
Then Dr. David Kennedy successfully caught on video mercury vapor coming off a mercury amalgam filling. This rocked the scientific world and added weight to Dr. Huggins’ clinical findings that heavy metal toxicity provoked a breakdown in whole body health.
Thankfully, Dr. Huggins got to see Gandhi’s words come full circle.
In January 2013, the United Nations moved forward a global initiative called the Minimata Convention on Mercury to ban the use of mercury worldwide. Enough data has been presented at this point to show that mercury is a very, very hazardous material proven to cause all sorts of damage to nerve tissue and to be a persistent environmental toxin.
In honor of Dr. Hal Huggins’ death, we would like to offer you free access to an interview we had with the doc in January 2013. This interview is one of 21 interviews included in our Healthy Mouth World Summit. The conversation goes deep, so please keep your seat belts buckled low and tight. 🙂
Also, feel free to download our FREE Guide to Safe Dentistry, which explains what questions to ask to find a dental team who will work with you on your journey to greater oral health.
Thank you, Dr. Huggins, for your diligent commitment to clinical research for over 50 years. Your name goes down in history as the modern grandfather of biological dentistry.
The service for Dr. Hal Huggins was Saturday…I prayed for all who attended the celebration of his extraordinary life…although I was not there I sent my thoughts and feelings about this amazing human being:
A Small Tribute to a True Giant…
Dr. Hal Huggins called himself the Dragon Slayer, I called him my friend…About 15 years ago, I discovered that my so called “silver fillings” were actually about 50% mercury after being diagnosed with mercury poisoning. When I heard that the fillings that were in my teeth were possibly the cause of my asthma diagnosis, I went immediately to the health food store and found the book “It’s All in Your Head”… I remember calling Dr. Huggins office and him picking up the phone and spending hours talking to me!
I asked him for help and he gave it willingly…I remember asking him if he knew any attorneys in California and he told me that a California Attorney had recently called him asking him about mercury, his name was Shawn Khorrami…This attorney would become my attorney and he filed the first suit against the ADA…
Hal also told me about his friend and what he referred to as his twin brother, Dr. Olympio Faissol Pinto from Rio, and said when I go to Brasil I must meet him…I did exactly that…These two men changed the course of my life forever.
With all that I can do to create a mercury free world, I do so to honor these visionaries who have dedicated their lives in the pursuit of a healthier and more holistic planet for all of us…
I would say that they are both Renaissance Men in every sense of the word…with their many other passions from Hal and his beautiful poetry, to Olympio and his love of horticulture – they really are twins!!!
I am sorry that I can’t be there with all of his family and all of his friends who will love him forever, just to pay my respects to someone whom I admired so much and am working so hard to continue to push his work forward…Because I am still in Brasil… a few weeks ago, we were happy to Skype Hal along with Olympio to share the great news of what has been happening in Brasil… We are trying to get the Rio law signed as quickly as possible and we vow that whatever we achieve here in Brasil, we will dedicate to the twin brothers, who without them both, we would not be here…We dedicated all the Brasil TAP’s to Hal and I know that he will be helping us from upstairs and continue to inspire us until we meet again…
Much love my dear friend,
Anita
Aloha Anita,
Thank you for your dear prayer for ‘the Doc’ here. We are honored that you chose to share it here with us.
We are honored to continue to follow in the footsteps of Dr Huggins and others in empowering the public on how to navigate the path to greater oral and whole body health.
Blessings to you Anita!
Thank you and Aloha!
How do we get to the free interview w/Dr Huggins???
Hi Toni,
Are you able to view it now? I originally had the wrong setting on youtube for sharing it. But it’s fixed now. 🙂
I’ve listened to this 3x and it’s great information. May it always stay available. Thanks for posting.
Ah, we are so glad you found benefit listening to ‘the Doc’ share with us. He has contributed in so many ways to the betterment of our lives here.