If you have a health condition, have undergone conventional medical investigation to exclude life threatening and other diseases, and have not responded to treatment, you should have an experienced practitioner:

Take a full medical and dental historyCheck your dental status (fillings, crowns, implants, dentures even amalgam tattoos or posts and pins

Carry out a test to measure each metallic filling for electrical activity, which will indicate the amount of mercury vapour released from fillings and the possible systemic effects of having a 'battery' in the mouth

Consider a provocation urine test. This uses the known mercury chelator 2,3 dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) to leech mercury out of your system to be excreted in the urine. Urine is taken before and after swallowing this chelator, and compared for mercury content. This test is an indicator of mercury body burden and requires careful interpretation by an experienced practitioner

Have a blood test the metal specific memory T-cell test (MSMT) developed at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London (020 8746 8000) which determines your immunological reactions to dental and associated metals, and measures lymphocyte response to other heavy metals

Other laboratory tests include hair analysis and a sweat test for dental metals (available at Biolab in London 020 7636 5959)

Other tests to give you an indication of amalgam toxicity include electroacupuncture evaluation (where an EAV practitioner assesses problems in the meridians which run across individual teeth), kinesiology, faeces measurement, a complete blood count and various body biochemistry tests.

Before you have your fillings removed

Get advice on an individualised programme of vitamin/mineral supplementation and detoxification programme, and start it two months before your amalgams are removed

Consume a fresh, organic wholefood diet. Avoid foods which are salty, sour or eaten at a high temperature, and snacks between meals all of which increase mercury vapour

Take antioxidants and free radical scanvengers to help bind and excrete mercury, including a good multivitamin supplement and extra selenium (50-200 micrograms), vitamin C powder, seaweed and homoeopathic dental amalgam, a tried and tested way to remove mercury from the system

Constipation, if present, must be treated, as mercury may be retained in the faeces and recirculated

Take charcoal half an hour prior to treatment to mop up any mercury vapour which has evaded other precautionary procedures and been swallowed

Get tested for your reaction to composite (white) fillings by sucking a sample of the proposed restorative material for two hours, repeating the procedure two days later, then monitoring and reporting reactions

Find a dentist experienced in removing amalgam fillings and discuss the protocol beforehand. He/she should be familiar with removing them in a predetermined sequence depending on ammeter or voltmeter measurements.

After treatment

Embark on an extensive detox programme for a number of months with supplements, detox measures such as saunas and steam, and lymphatic drainage

Consider taking a chelator such as DMSA to flush mercury out of your system.