Home » Dental Spa » Health-Focused Dentistry » Hair Testing

Hair Testing

At Groton Wellness Dental Spa, we hope to help our patients to become more aware of the heavy metal toxic burden often carried in our bodies. One way to aid our patients is to make take-home hair test kits available for anyone wishing to know more about how well their body is functioning.

Why hair?

Hair is an excretory tissue for essential, nonessential, and potentially toxic elements. Hair testing has been in use for about two decades to screen for drugs. It is a non-invasive test that is very accurate and effective for detecting foreign elements in the body. In many cases, the hair sample will provide a better indication of body stores than is evident from the levels in blood or unprovoked urine specimens.

How does it work?

In general, the amount of a toxin that is incorporated into growing hair is proportional to the level of that same toxin in other body tissues.

When completed, the hair test analysis can provide an indirect screening test for physiological excess or deficiency (or maldistribution) of potentially toxic elements in the body.

Hair testing in conjunction with mercury filling removal.

It is best to use the hair test first as a baseline analysis, and then follow-up with annual or semiannual re-analysis of the patient's hair after mercury removal and dental revision has been completed.

For some patients who are not adequately detoxing mercury and releasing it from their body, the hair test analysis may initially show a low level of mercury (and other metals). This phenomenon is due to the body’s inability to release the metals from the tissue stores, and may be a sign of accumulation of heavy metals in other parts of the body, i.e.: the brain or kidney.

After completing a regimen of detoxification to regain the body's ability to release and rid the body of mercury and other heavy metals, the hair test analysis may show a higher level of heavy metals than the initial test.  But in 6 to 12 months, the levels should begin to decrease – depending on the efficiency of the detoxification program.

For information on obtaining a Hair Analysis/Hair Test Kit, please contact our office. You may also visit Doctors Data Inc., or Great Smokies Laboratory.