Howard: It is just a huge, huge honor for me today to be podcast interviewing, Jason Buyukozer. And I called Jason and asked him to come on the show because somethings happened very recently with of all things, amalgam separating regulation.
Jason has been the Technical Specialist at M.A.R.S. Bio-Med for the past five years. He has dedicated his career to becoming a North American expert on Amalgam Separators. Jason, along with the M.A.R.S. Bio-Med, have been all over North America training water treatment plant inspectors, service companies, governments, militaries and dental practices on amalgam separator maintenance, usage of evacuation line cleaner and the safe handling and disposal of mercury waste.
And before you start talking, the reason I got you on the show, is because I saw something, I forgot where I saw you posted on that was Facebook or Twitter, or something. Anyway I talked to my two dentist buddies up the street, and we're having a beer and I said, ‘what do you use?’ None of us… we all… that was done when we built our office, thirty years ago. And none of us have a clue of what we've even have. So you got to go slow with my homies here, because I don't think there's very many dentists who have thought a lot about this. So thanks for coming to the show. What did my homies need to know about Amalgam Separating Regulation? What's changed.
Jason: Well basically it's required nationally now across the United States. Which is a great thing. It's already been proven by gamma studies and by water treatment plants, they already know that dentist are one of the highest polluters of mercury. The most… the reason is other industries have already been regulated. But the problem with dentists is you guys are not just putting amalgam or mercury, you're polluting amalgam. Which amalgam has mercury, silver, among other things, but tin. And the tin has ionic charge when submerged under water will actually release mercury into a soluble form. Which water treatment plant don't have a technology to remove.
Back in 2014, the EPA told water treatment plants, you can no longer buy water dilute to meet your standard. So dilution is no longer the solution to pollution. So no water treatment plants have to figure out a new way to meet their mercury discharge limits. Like I said, the biggest concern for them is soluble mercury. So when the EPA passed the regulation. In the regulation you'll see that water treatment plants have been given the responsibility to regulate, and come up with their own standards for dental offices.
So whatever the EPA regulation has said it could be superseded by a local water treatment plant if they find a discharge limits too high. This will be very common along the Great Lakes, as many of the states have water treatment plants along the Great Lakes signed the, what's it's called? Great Lakes Initiative, where they're trying minimize the amount of discharge of mercury into the Great Lakes. So depending on where you are, and how big your city is, or what the expectations are the water treatment plant are, everyone's regulations are going to be completely different.
Howard: Yeah. And they haven't even started the concern. Do you know what the largest source of mercury… well, atmospheric mercury is fifty percent comes from coal but six percent comes from fillings. And do you know where… where… how it comes out?
Jason: How's that?
Howard: When their cremating the bodies.
Jason: Oh. Gees.
Howard: They cremating… I mean… I don’t… I don't know how many people are… how many people die each year in the United States. Do a Google search how many cremate. So they haven't even… they haven’t even done word one of sending in someone with a pair of pliers to pull out these teeth. And think of the poor guy that's baking this human. I mean when you open up a cremator, I mean it's just ashes. So that guy… who's ever doing it, I mean that's hot highly charged metal, you know what I mean?
Jason: And while big… and now people don't know this but that inline trap attached to your pump, if you don't have an amalgam separator, every time you change that in line trap next to your wet vacuum system, you're exposing yourself to metal mercury. Because you have elemental mercury mixing with biological waste. You should really be wearing a respirator. It's when that mercury sits in that water that whole water becomes saturated with soluble mercury and eventually that goes into vapor. And that soluble mercury will eventually turn into vapor somehow.
Howard: Well that's why I have my dental assistant change it. Which doesn't make sense because Jan and I have both been there thirty years and she… we're same age and she looks ten years younger that me. So maybe that's her secret.
Jason: That's it. It's the secret of life.
Howard: Maybe we found the fountain of youth. And it's in a mercury trap. Okay. So what’s changed? How does a dentist, listening to you on the way to work, when they get to work. How can they be edumacated after they figured out if they are compliant?
Jason: It’s simple enough. If they don't already have an amalgam separator, which majority of a dentists in the United States do not. Do your homework. Go online, type in amalgam separators. Keep in mind not every service company sells every amalgam separator. There's about nine major ones in the market. And it's just impossible for any service company, even the large ones, to sell more than one and two. That's doesn't make any sense. So do your homework. Don't just ask your one service company, ask multiple different service companies on what systems they sell. In all honesty, some service companies would sell you amalgam separator that further their bottom line versus help you more.
Which just happened in Canada, actually, there's a company who refused to sell our system because, simply put, their technicians make a commission on parts. Filters are parts. Ours would save doctors too much money, is what they told us essentially. But what you need to consider is if you’re looking at an amalgam separator, and you don't have one currently. Make sure the manufacturer offers a written guarantee of compliance. That's the safest way of protecting yourself. So no matter what system you get, make sure the manufacturer says, ‘no matter your local regulations we’ll make sure you’re compliant’.
And that's what M.A.R.S. does. We offer a written guarantee. We're confident in our product. Mostly because there's been an independent study on our system. Showing that we are the best available technology. And we've already been told by multiple water treatment plants, that they will recommend our system, because they've seen the differences of our system versus other systems and the function of how it captures total mercury. Which is solid mercury and soluble mercury. But the best way to protect yourself, if you’re buying a new system, make sure you have a guarantee. Because if you’re going to spend the money on a system it better damn have a warranty. A $25 toaster has a warranty or a guarantee. Their $1000 amalgam separator should.
Howard: You guys started in 2005 and do you only do dental?
Jason: That's it. We only sell amalgam separators and evacuation line cleaners that will make our systems work better. We’re getting into (inaudible 07:37).
Howard: So do you have an instructional… do you have an instructional video of this? I mean I watched your Youtube video where you're talking about it, but do you have like a video that shows it or explains it?
Jason: I do. Yes. If you go to our Youtube channel we have a multiple videos spanning from the preventive maintenance of different amalgam separators, we talk about the EPA regulation. Every week we release two blogs, either written or a video blog. On…
Howard: Did you post them on Detaltown's blog?
Jason: No I haven't. I didn't want to be…
Howard: There's a quarter million dentists on Dentaltown, and fifty thousand have downloaded the app to their smart phone. You should put those on the blogs. And what's also really neat, to you guys listening, is we just added this new feature where if you read a blog, and you like it, we have your social media share. So you can share it to your Facebook, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Pinterest, and all that stuff.
But I say I just… I wanted to get you on the show because everybody listening wants to talk about fillings and crowns, they’re chef's they want to learn a new recipe. But this is something that you got to pay attention to. And I believe… I believe it's the dental offices responsibility, because I believe that user tax are the best. I mean if you're the one discharging the mercury, you should be the one paying to clean it up.
Same thing with like when you visit Yellowstone Park, I mean that shouldn't be paid out of general taxpayer dollars. The people going there should be pay for it. I mean the little old lady working at the Waffle House shouldn’t have to subsidise your family vacation to Yellowstone.
I like user fees, user taxes… and so the dentist… and they are buying the curb because we have an intel plant up the street. And so I have a lot of patients that work in intel, and they make a lot of crazy solutions in there making those fab chips. Right? And they purify, they clean all their water up. And they don’t just…
Jason: Any…
Howard: Dump it in the toilet and let Phoenix fix it. I mean they clean up their own waste.
Jason: And that's the way it should be. And in all honesty it's… if your look… Amalgam separators probably the easiest route. There's other options where you can capture your entire discharge and set it out for recycling. It's a process. it’s possible but in all honesty, do you have an amalgam separator that's able to capture total mercury with the M.A.R.S. being… we’re different that any other system in the sense that we have a two tapes… two stage filtration system.
One is the settling aside, like every other ISO amalgam separator, it's settling base. And then the other side is a filtration side, where we have a media that captures soluble mercury. Actually the US military asked to purchase the media from us because it's so good. And so if you have a system like the M.A.R.S. in your office, you're going up and beyond what the EPA regulations requiring and even exceeding your local water treatment plants. And making assure that you are completely environmental. Because you have the best available technology. In fact anybody who has our amalgam separator you to marsbiomed.com, go to our find a dentist page, that's an app that we have. Everybody with M.A.R.S. LibertyBOSS, gets free advertising as a environmentally friendly dental practice. Just type in your zip code and with an x amount of kilometers, so let’s say I’m a patient looking for an environmentally friendly doctor.
Howard: Did you say kilometer?
Jason: Pardon.
Howard: Did you say kilometer?
Jason: Miles. I meant miles. I did say zip code instead of postal code though.
Howard: My gosh. My gosh. My homies don't know what a kilometer is. They’re thinking, ‘did you mean to say klondike bar?’ And hey back to that…
Jason: Hey, you’re military guys, your military buddies might know. They know clicks.
Howard: Well you know what's really sad? Is I went to ASU. I was in a state university and they did half the work on one of those mars launching, one of those robots that went to mars.
Jason: Yeah.
Howard: And I think Jet Propulsion did the other half. And one group used miles and one use kilometers, and they found out that's why that thing crashed. Because the computers froze because… can you believe that? I mean it’s…
Jason: Couldn’t just convert from metric to imperial and back.
Howard: I mean it's just crazy. I don't think America will ever switch to the obvious. And just think how much time will it save teachers teaching young kids math. If they weren’t on imperial math.
But back to the cremations, that ought to be your next effort. Because I've watched your Youtube videos. By the way, I think… do you think you should email me the links to the… what… email to Ryan links to those videos and we’ll just put them on the podcast?
Jason: Yeah. I could do that.
Howard: Yeah. Well he’s saying (inaudible 12:28). Is that… that one you sent, is that the best way my homies could…
Jason: It's a ten… eleven minute video I believe. And it just kind of outlines the EPA regulation and what's happening, the release, what’s expected.
Howard: Yeah.
Jason: I believe that's the one.
Howard: That was all audio though.
Jason: It's video.
Howard: No. I mean video. But it's not like showing the device, and how it works, and clean it.
Jason: Oh, our system. I have another one that does. It's… there's some graphics that explain how our system works.
Howard: Okay.
Jason: And why it works.
Howard: Whatever you want to… if that one you send is good enough we'll add that on the end of the show. But back to cremations, I mean check this out. United States has about two and half million people die in the United States each year. Last year was two million six hundred and twenty-six thousand, fifty-one percent get cremated. So the United States cremates a million three hundred and thirty-nine thousand, four hundred and seventy-three people a year. How many of those people have amalgams in their teeth?
Jason: Well if they’re in the older generations that's probably a lot.
Howard: Yeah. I mean, yeah. Those are probably… I mean the median average age of death is, I think, seventy-four for men, seventy-nine for women all them people. All those people have amalgams.
Jason: My mom told me when she was my age or even younger, in her teens, even a small little cavity doctor would fill it with amalgam right away. That was the solution.
Howard: Yeah.
Jason: She had countless of amalgams in her mouth.
Howard: Yeah.
Jason: She’s slowly removing them as they break and replacing them with composites now. But the reason my president of the company… of M.A.R.S. Mister Darcy started M.A.R.S. is because he got mercury poison from his fillings. He had a significant amount. And had it all removed and put composites in. But that's what got him into amalgam separators. Got him into amalgam. And became one of the leading experts in mercury in North America.
Howard: I've got to tell you the creepiest mercury amalgam story ever. So my buddy buys a dental office in South Phoenix, and he works here for a couple of years. But this old office… I mean, the guy had carpet in all the operatories, carpet. And so after a couple of years the office was built up they, had cash flow, they're going to remodel it. And he was going to pull it up and put down linoleum. And so I went over there, and he wanted some help pulling up carpet. I don't they're only pull up the carpet. There was balls of mercury underneath the carpet. And my boys we're kicking the ball and it like hit the wall, and bust into two and come back and I'm just like, oh my God. I mean that old man had practiced in there forty years, and I don't know how old the carpet was but it looked like it was at least twenty years old. And I mean I just it was just crazy.
Jason: Oh yeah, that…
Howard: Crazy, crazy, crazy
Jason: Well there would be a lot of dust in there too. Right. Because when they’re drilling it away or moving the mercury it’s kicking out into the office as well and that probably settle in the carpet as well.
Howard: So how much does this unit cost? This is dentistry uncensored, get nitty gritty.
Jason: Okay. Well normally when I do these kind of talks, I'm doing it with like the dental or The American Dental Assistants Association or water treatment plants. So I can't get personal I can’t be unbiased. So now to be biased. The LibertyBOSS is eleven seventy-four, $1,174 that includes the recycling of the system. It can last up to three years in an office. One to three chairs is three years. Four to nine chairs is two years, ten to fifteen chairs is a year.
There's no filters, there's no maintenance. If you buy the amalgam separator that has any maintenance, for example for the one of the most common ones, the Solmetex Hg5. If you look at page four of the manual, require weekly inspections on their upper chamber and their filter for clogging and filling. I can even send you the link for… on their Youtube page where they have a video describing the maintenance. Where they tell you to wear gloves…
Howard: No. No. No, post it in the blog. I'll read it on the blog on Dentaltown.
Jason: I will. I will. And it's… our systems literally no maintenance, no exposure. A month before the LibertyBOSS' due, we call you or your service company whoever installed it for you calls you, reminds you the systems due. They pull up the whole amalgam separator. Put the whole one in.. new one in. And you're good for another three, four… three years. One, two, three years depending on the size of your practice.
But it’s set and forget. There's a guarantee of compliance that comes with system. We guarantee our product for the service life. So if you paid eleven seventy-four for three years and, God forbid, there’s a manufacture defect. We will replace the system for free. We guarantee our system for three years. In twelve years of business we’ve only have one failure.
Howard: It's only eleven hundred and seventy four bucks?
Jason: That's it. For three years.
Howard: And then in three years is it another one thousand one hundred and seventy-four bucks?
Jason: And that includes the shipping and the recycling of the system. That's it.
Howard: And what do you do with the old one?
Jason: We send it off to a recycling center with a very reputable recycling center, Veolia. They recycle the entire unit, and that ended up going to Austria where they do the refinery for removing all the precious metals.
Howard: Interesting. I would’ve just thrown it in my assistant's trunk. When she’s really busy I just would’ve got the key out of her purse.
Jason: As an April Fools trip, right?
Howard: That's right. That’s where I throw away all the sharps containers…
Jason: If you've ever smelt what's in the amalgam separator, it's God awful. When I first started this business the president of the company says, ‘if you ever want to lose weight, you just picture your favorite food as that. As the amalgam waste. That sludge that's in the amalgam separator. Because you got blood, you got biofilm, you got prophy paste, it's just one of the most grotesque things. And he says the way he got off chocolate, was a picturing that amalgam waste as chocolate. And he never touched chocolate again.
Howard: Yeah. Amalgam's just dead I mean between… but we're going to be drilling it out for a hundred years.
Jason: Well if you stop right now. You got at least fifty years before everyone… every single amalgam’s out of everyone’s mouth. If you stop putting them in right now.
Howard: Yeah. Or it be a century, actually.
Jason: It would… it would be a very, very long time.
Howard: Yeah. And what's tough is they can't really go to tooth colored fillings in the poor countries. Because they don't have the rubber dams, you need suction, you need a high speed suction. And they're sitting there doing dentistry… when you're doing dentistry… there's two million dentist and they only five hundred thousand of them live in countries that look like Kender in the United States. And a million five hundred thousand of them are in poor countries.
And they just… and when they try to do those… I stand there and watch them. I mean the whole things contaminated, it's not dry. I mean, I even saw in one office where almost three times, while the dentist putting in the filling, the patient sat up and took a sip of water and spit into a pickle barrel or a little five gallon plastic deal. And I just thought, ‘oh my God’. He’d etched it then she rinse and spit, and he put on the adhesive then she rinse. So you could have put amalgam in there, and it would just would have corroded a really nice seal, and it would've worked for thirty to forty years. But they're putting in this composites under extremely less than ideal conditions. And so it's a… it’s a tough… it's a tough deal but I think…
Jason: It'll get there eventually when the technology reaches their countries and becomes more accessible.
Howard: Yeah.
Jason: So I’d imagine. Right. Yeah.
Howard: Oh. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. The whole world’s catching up fast. I think that's going to be our greatest century. I mean in 1880, eighty percent of the world could not read or write. And now eighty percent of the world, someone in their hut has a smartphone and can get on wikipedia and read fifty-five million pages of information. I mean tell me that's not going to make this our greatest century ever when we go from a country… an earth where eighty percent are all illiterate. And now eighty percent are going to have a smartphone reading wikipedia. I mean that's just crazy.
Jason: It's going to move quick too.
Howard: Oh yeah.
Jason: I mean it’s… everything’s leaping in bounds now.
Howard: So if someone want's to talk to you or call you. Who do they… what's your contact information?
Jason: Well you can email at consults C-O-N-S-U-L-T-S at marsbiomed.com. If you have an amalgam separator currently or you're looking, and you want to send me a picture of the mechanical room, tell me how many chairs you have, how many doctors, more importantly how many hygienists. Because hygienists are what fills amalgam separators more than anything. What fills… amount of separators are… let me get back to that second.
But you send me that information and I will send you a consult. You tell me what systems you’re looking at. And I'll email you back with a price comparison. With the system looking at versus a M.A.R.S. I do it all the time for Patterson Dental of Canada, they're one of my biggest distributors in Canada.
And as for amalgam separators. How they work is every amalgam separator is a refined solids collector, they're made to capture anything that's heavier than water. So what actually ends up filling amalgam separators more than anything is prophy paste. So I get doctors don't feel like their system should be changed, or wondering why their filter based system is changed more often. Because they don't do amalgams, they don't place amalgams, they don't take them out. They do maybe one a year they say. You may have to understand it’s the prophy paste from your hygienists. That's why when I'm offering a consult or price comparison for dental office one of my first question is, how many hygienists do you have?
Howard: So why do the hygienist create more?
Jason: Well like I said, an amalgam separator is a refined solids collector. That means anything that's heavier than water it's going to capture. So prophy paste is heavy. Prophy paste will just settle in an amalgam separator. So every ISO amalgam separator ISO 111432008 amalgam separator is a refine solids collector. There's an inlet where all the sludge, the water, everything enters from the day into system, settles into a filter in a settling tank. In our case, the settling’s out of our leg.
Once it has time to settle the heavy stuff settles the bottom. The water somehow rises above that and escapes depending on what system you have. Ours goes over our first leg, from a settling side into a media side and then the water's filtrated so you remove the soluble mercury. That is not ISO required. All the ISO requires is the settling. So you get a bucket from Home Depot and you can get the same thing. You pay the 10,000 or $20,000 it is to get your ISO testing. And you can make an amalgam separator out of a Home Depot bucket. And get the same thing as almost the other amalgam separator.
Howard: So on my on the app on the Dentaltown app, there's a little search bar there where you can search a key term. I want everybody to use it atleast once. Because it cost me $50,000 from Google. And whenever you want to update to it to the newest deal you got to buy a whole new box. But anyway, I just typed in amalgam separators and there's just endless threads talking about this. Have you…. could you go in there and answer a lot of these questions?
Jason: Oh yes for sure. Once we're done this interview and we figure out… show me how to do it, and I'll…
Howard: Well yeah. Just on the search bar just type in amalgam separator and there's just threads galore people asking questions about all these things. But that would be really cool if you would go in there and answer those.
Jason: I will. I will.
Howard: And it's good marketing too. Because in your signature bio box, I mean you can see in your thread. You can answer a question, ‘well if you want to do it right just buy mine here's the deal’. But in your signature… you got to be sharing content answers. But in your signature you can put your name, your logo, your email, your contact, all the stuff like that. And you could say in your signature box if you want to consult email me consults@marsbiomed.com, and I think that be the best marketing you could do.
Jason: And I will definitely do that. I enjoying answering questions about amalgam separators. And usually and I have no problem being unbiased. As I said I train water treatment plant all over North America. And when I'm doing so I have to be completely unbiased and in fact some cities make me sign a lobbyist contract saying I can’t lobby my own product because I have an invested interest. All I can… simply put i mean… but I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging but the LibertyBOSS if I just state fact, it sells itself. It makes sense. Why wouldn’t you want an amalgam separators that can last 3 years with no filter, no maintenance, there's no hidden cost, eleven seventy-four.
Let's say a filter based amalgam separator gives your free system. Because most is filter based systems lend on the Gillette principle. I'll give you a free handle if you buy my blade. So I give you a free amalgam separator doctor just buy my filters. And you know what… and according to their maintenance schedule it's once a year or one's it's full. Whichever comes first. For a three chair practice, one doctor, two hygiene you're looking at a $350 filter every six months. Now you're spending seven hundred a year. Twenty-one over three years. And that's eleven seventy-four for a libertyBOSS, nearly half the price, the libertyBOSS.
There's no… and that's cost the filters. You’re not including the transportation or installation fees. So I mean… any doctor… our best customers at M.A.R.S. are the doctors who do their homework. Anybody who takes just thirty minutes to do the research, I won’t have to sell you on the product, you'll sell yourself.
Howard: And that's why I do these podcasts. Because they are multitasking, they’re driving at work. And I hope everyday they get to work and they just learn one more thing. Because the problem with dentist is they just have so many hats to wear. I mean they’ve got to learn root canals, fillings, crowns, braces, bleaching, bonding, veneers, and then HR and accounting, and marketing and SEO. I mean amalgam separator is just one more damn thing that they didn't teach you in dental school that… there's so many hats to wear.
Jason: There's so many. And it's unfortunate actually. I always say the one of most successful dental offices I've ever seen, are dentist who hire a manager pays them well let's do that job. So that he can focus on what's important which is the patient. And those are the ones I always see that are successful. Because the doctor… I mean they could do it, of course they can do it. But when you have, like you said, too many huts, you're everywhere, you pulled everywhere, your time is limited. And enjoy this, this way we're talking right now, honesty and open and it hits a large audience.
For the reason that marketing is probably the worst enemy for dentists. Because a product could be okay but I have great marketing. And it sounds awesome you spend all those money and ends up being the one of the worst pieces of crap you buy, or a company could have the best product but don't have the same marketing budget as this large companies. And you messed up because you fell into that marketing trap. With something as open and honest as this.
Howard: I noticed about three business strategies in dentistry around the world. The Americans they just… they’ll just market, market, they’re the best in marketing. You go into a lot of this mid-range companies like do a hundred million dollars a year in dentistry. And you will go in there and they'll have a call center with like fifty people, dialing for dollars all day long with thermostats and goals some leader pumping them up. And you go over… and there won't any PhD's. No one has a degree in engineering, nobody has a PhD.
Then you go over to Germany and Switzerland and nobody has a call center but they might have five, ten, twenty, fifty PhD's. So the American just going to market and advertise a crap out of it. The Europeans believe that they'll build a so damn good that you will figure it out and come buy their product. And then you go to China, and they just are convinced that if you're the lowest cost, they'll just squeeze a penny out of it any dime they find. And so the Asians just want to go the lowest cost, the Europeans want to just make it the best with no advertising, and Americans are just make the most money because they just know how to sell.
Jason: And there's different rules in marketing in the US versus other countries as well. There's less regulations on what you can say and do in marketing I found. For example, there's a chair company that I came across and they're selling in Japan. And they're selling the best chair in Japan. The Japanese government told them, ‘you can't do that. Unless you show me, fact, that you’ve got the best chair, you can't say that’. In US you could say it. I mean how many ‘best copies in the worlds’ are in New York?
Howard: Yeah. And the most saddest thing I think I ever did in the business is I came out with the thirty day dental MBA. And it was on… back in the day it was on VCR, and sold the bunch of this things all around the world. And a bunch of dentists got all excited and started doing some of this advertising and marketing and stuff like that, not knowing that it was illegal.
And I couldn't believe how many dentists got in trouble in other countries because what was just standard operating practice in the United States was extremely illegal in Hong Kong, in Romania and all this different countries where some people got into some big trouble. But yeah so, it is a big thing out there. So again I just want to hold your feet to the fire. She's driving to work right now.
Jason: Okay.
Howard: How does she know when she gets to work if her amalgam separator is compliant. I mean what is she supposed to do?
Jason: So if you have an amalgam separator right now, as long as you're maintaining it properly according to manufactures specification so I mean, whatever your manufacturer is, type into google, your unit's make and model user manual. Read the user manual. If it's one of the more common systems as Solmetex Hg5 they require weekly inspections because the inlet of their filters is 3 quarter inches. You put a piece of biofilm on top the filter looks empty but your upper chambers starts to build. It's really.. there’s a is a lot to it. It's simple but it's not. The easiest answers go to marsbiomed.com, go to our blog section and go to preventative maintenance. We've got preventative maintenance of the 6 top separators sold in North America. And you could watch those videos, figure out which one's your model and look at it. How an amalgam separator's maintained really depends on the size of your practice. Some amalgam separators are very specific in their service schedule's and their usage of M.A.R.S. 1 to 3 chairs in 3 years, 4 to 9 chairs are 2 years, 10 to 15 chairs is a year. Or it's not specific like a filter based system which is every 12 months or when it's full whichever comes first. So it's hard to keep track of what your systems do if you're not familiar with the required maintenance of the system. Every amalgam separator that's ISO 11143 2008 tested, is compliant in the EPA regulation. It may not be compliant with your local water treatment plant. So you already have an amalgam separator, you could be grandfathered in. I'm saying that your system is compliant until your local regulation says otherwise. So if your water treatment plant for example in Ohio, there was a doctor who had is a small town, there's like 2 doctors in this town and one doctor doesn't place amalgam, the other one places a lot of amalgam. So he needed an amalgam separator according to water treatment plant. And he put in a Solmetex, this doctor was changing the filter out of it's like it's think it's a 2 or 3 chair practice. He was changing his filter every month. When even he only had to really replace it every 6 months on his size practice. And he still couldn't meet the city standards. So the city said listen, either you change your amalgam separator to something else that will work or you shut down. So he put a M.A.R.S. in, now he met the standards. So you even though you have an amalgam separator until your city says otherwise you're compliant. Just make sure you maintain the system properly. You can ask them it's what they need to know. The most simple way of making sure your compliant is get a written guarantee from the manufacturer before you buy. If you have one make sure it's maintained properly to manufacturer specifications and also call your local water treatment plants. Call whomever will be regulating you and ask them what they're looking for. In all honesty you don't have to have an amalgam separator until July 2020, it's the cut off date. It's the maximum cut off date. Unless you are new practice then you have 6 months or something like that. But if you wanted a treatment plant states to need an amalgam separator now, unless otherwise mentioned you have till 2020. So don't go out and buy an amalgam separator unless it comes with a guarantee or you heard from your local regulator what they expecting and that's probably the simplest answer for your members. It's just make sure what you're getting and spending your money on is right for your practice. And right for what your local regulators are looking for.
Howard: And one of the things you keep saying is something people don't think about. What is the initial cost of something versus like the total cost of something. Like most of this airline companies, the reason they buy brand new boeing jets is they could run the other ones for 30 years but the increased efficiency, fuel savings is why they're doing it. So you can buy something cheap but if your maintenance cost expensive over the life of the deal, you can end up paying twice as much for something. Infact, that's one of the only reasons I'm thinking I'm might get rid of my car. My car's 2004 but the gas mileage of the new cars is twice of what it was in 2004. From 2004 to 2017 Lexus basically doubled their miles per gallon. So I've got to look at my fuel cost you know but it's a total cost... By the way I wonder if the EPA even thinks about cremating. I know I'm fixated on the cremation deal but I think that's a as big of an issue. You're talking about one source of it, you’re talking about mercury going into water and this company of yours was started because the guy had mercury toxicity you know and just think of all those people cremating a million three hundred thirty nine thousand.And then they say it's responsible for 6%..of the atmospheric mercury is from cremating humans with amalgams. That's just crazy. I mean and that's something could be stopped tomorrow.
Jason: Easily. Just pulling out the teeth.
Howard: I mean it would take a law the size of a post it note that says somebody trained in dentistry whether be a dentist, a hygienist you know somebody I mean they you know any you know someone needs to go in there with a pair of pliers and you just can't do this.
Jason: Yeah, that makes sense.
Howard: And if that's responsible for 6% of the atmospheric mercury what do you think the working conditions are for the cremator?
Jason: Right there in that facility, I couldn't imagine.
Howard: My God. That's so crazy.But yeah so let's I think we covered this as a single subject deal unless there's anything else you want to say?
Jason: Well as you're saying the maintenance cost versus the initial cost is something you asked about. As I mentioned filter based amalgam separators it's kind of funny you made that car analogy, it's the one the president of my company uses. Filter based amalgam separators are based on 1990's technology. Our systems is based on 2005 technology. Would you still be driving a 1990 car or would you be driving in this millennium? And that's the analogy we like to use. We're new technology that is seen as the best available technology in the industry. Simply put you have a M.A.R.S. on your office, you're guaranteed compliance, we give it in writing. And that's probably the easiest answer that's or very biased. I mean like it's you can say state it behind fact, like I can give you independent studies that back when I say because at M.A.R..S. being a Canadian company we, in our advertising we cannot say something that we can't back up by third party information. So that's how our marketing works. We have an independent study done by a gentlemen in Ohio and it showed that we are the best available technology water treatment plants recognized that. And that's why we offer it in writing. Forget about the cost of anything even though we are probably about half the cost of any system. We are the most efficient and the best available technology- simply put, with Bio M.A.R.S, you’ll never have to worry about your amalgam separator again.
Howard: And I want to also state that this was not a commercial, you did not contact me, I contacted you. No money traded hands. But if I do go to Toronto, you will buy me a beer.
Jason: I'll buy you a pitcher.
Howard: I'm just kidding.
Jason: We’ll go to some of those microbreweries, and I'm telling you you're going to love it.
Howard:Yeah I love those microbreweries, way too much but yeah, so why don't you send over what videos you want them to see. If you're listening to this on iTunes, you know you can see the videos on Youtube. We also obviously put them on Dentaltown, (00:38:20 unclear), orthotown, but yeah but thanks for informing us and just like I say it's just that one more thing where dentists have to wear so many hats but the reason I contacted you is because this new EPA regulation, I saw that coming down that's when I did my homework and called you and had you come on the show.
Jason: Well I appreciate it. And it hopefully will help some of your members kind of ctp through some of the information I mean that EPA regulations 94 pages. You don't have time to read 94 pages.
Howard: Yeah, and..
Jason: Well hopefully we'll cut through all that need to read the 94 page regulation.
Howard: Yeah and if you get on Dentaltown and go in do a search for amalgam separator and answer those questions, that be great and whenever you do write a blog and you already got the content, you might as well repost it on the Dentaltown blog sections it's extremely popular.
Jason: I will start posting we've got like a from last 3 months that we've been releasing 2 a week. So I will repost them on your website.
Howard: Yeah and for your homies listening like I said, you know we come out of the monthly magazine online and a lot of this guys takes several months to write this articles and if and no one has paid for it. It's all volunteering, sharing, and from the heart and if you like what somebody writes on that magazine, share it to your social media that's I think that's the greatest...the greatest compliment a patient can give is refer friend or loved one. And I think the greatest gift a dental content creator on Dentaltown can do is share it. So you post a blog and if Jason Buyukozer posts a blog and you found it informative and it answered your questions, then reach up and hit the share button to your other social media sites.
Jason: I'll be excited. It's actually a pressure, thank you so much.
Howard: Thank you. Thank you for coming on the show. I think you really..it’s like toys R us. It's a category killer. I think you came on the show and you talked about this EPA amalgam separation regulation from A to Z and you crushed it. And congratulations on that and my only mission, how old are you?
Jason: 28.
Howard: 28 so I'm 54 so you're young and I’ve got a son your age. So you have to promise to give time... you’re as old as me, there will be EPA regulations to go extract those molars and cremated bodies.You got to take that mercury separation technology mission of yours a little further.
Jason: That sounds a little fun to me well we're actually getting... M.A.R.S. is getting into air disinfectant right now. So that's our next step.
Howard: Alright buddy.
Jason: Now we know where to target.
Howard: Now Ryan's going to go start his own company.
Jason: Wonderful.
Howard: Cremation molar extraction services. He'll just drive around in a Uber car all day long. Pulling teeth out of crematories. Alright have a good. day.
Jason: You too thank you.
This video is about the one simple rule that will save you money when investing in an amalgam separator. The EPA regulation is on the mind of dentists in United States. This would be the second blog released from M.A.R.S regarding the EPA regulation since the release in July 14, 2017. The last blog ‘What American Dentists need to know about the new EPA Regulation’ explains why dental practices are being targeted by the EPA and POVW's. The issue with ISO 11143 2008 amalgam separators and what is best for your practice?
This blog is going to be very short and to the point. For the reason that is there's only one rule when choosing an amalgam separate for your dental practice. The one simple rule you have to remember is, get a written guarantee of compliance from any amalgam separator manufacturer before purchasing their system. A manufacturer of a compliance product should be confident enough in their product to guarantee that all dental practices with their system will meet or exceed any current or future requirements. If a manufacturer cannot guarantee your compliance, why are you investing in their product? The logic behind the one simple rule, you could have a cheapest amalgam separator, you could have the most expensive amalgam separator, you could have the most common amalgam separator. If the manufacturer isn't protecting their customers by guaranteeing your compliance, how protected is your practice? Cut through all the marketing, all the marketing from all the manufacturers. Forget about their features, forget about their requirement and maintenance, forget about their cost. If you cannot get the manufacturer to give you in a writing, record in writing that your practice is protected from any current or future regulation, then why are you considering their system? If you cannot get the manufacturer to give you in writing, that your practice is protected from any current or future regulation, then why are you considering their system?
Your local regulators most commonly the water treatment plants or POTW's have the legal right to require you to purchase the best available technology if your current system does not meet the requirements. This is regardless of when you install the system or how old it is. If your amalgam separator doesn't meet their standards, you'll be required to reinvest in a new system. An excellent example of a guarantee of compliance is the one from M.A.R.S. Bio-med. It comes with every LibertyBoss Amalgam separator. The guarantee of compliance states if the LibertyBoss technology should fail to meet or exceed the respective regulations due to M.A.R.S. technology shortcomings, M.A.R.S. Bio-med will make the appropriate adjustments to the LibertyBoss as further described in the MARS website. If the LibertyBoss should fail due to a larger volume of amalgam waste produced or other indistinctive features of the dental office, M.A.R.S. will suggest additional M.A.R.S. technology products to ensure compliance. When you are a part of the M.A.R.S. family and environmentally friendly dental practices, we guarantee the protection of your dental practice, staff and community.
Remember, if you do not want to spend hours researching different amalgam separators in the market, simply ask one simple question of the manufacturer. Do you guarantee my compliance? If they can't offer you in writing that your practice is protected with their product, this will shorten the list of amalgam separators you have to choose from. I hope you found this information helpful.
If you would like to have more questions answered, please do not hesitate to call M.A.R.S. Bio-med at 186-6594-3648 or visit our website for more information, marsbiomed.com. Have yourself a great day and thank you.
Narrator: Dental offices will be required to use amalgam separators which can capture the mercury that would otherwise enter public water ways. To meet the proposed dental amalgam reduction requirements at source, the dental profession is making a water shed moment going beyond the ADA's 2007 recommendation, to include amalgam separators as part of their best management practices, to embracing the debate shift from whether to end amalgam to how to end amalgam and more immediately to when to buy one.
Dr. Chris Pavletic: There's a 54 tons of mercury just trapped in to environment yearly by dental offices. Which is very disturbing when I found out about it. So I just jumped on this right away and wanted to do what's right. I drink the water like everybody else. We have a family, you want to do what's right.
Dr. Patricia Gilleran: So yeah I've been concerned about the environment and wanted to do something extra to prevent mercury from going into the environment through my office.
Jason: Hello I'm Jason Buyukozer, a technical specialist at M.A.R.S. Bio-med. I'm an expert on amalgam separators and I'm here today to explain common misconceptions on how amalgam separators work and their purpose. As we all know mercury and amalgam has 50% of mercury. We also know it contains tin among other metals. What you might not know, tin has an ionic charge that releases mercury into it's free state which is a gas. When that mercury is placed on water such as in amalgam separator that dissolves into a soluble form. This is a large concern for you local water treatment plant as they lack the ability to remove soluble mercury. This study above is a time study in which 4 grams of amalgam is placed in a 125 milliliters of pure water at a neutral PH and allowed to dissolve over a 30 day period in the same manner that it will dissolve in an amalgam separator. Regardless if the EPA regulation is released, dental practices will be regulated not by the EPA but by your local water treatment plant. In 2014 the EPA told water treatment plants that dilution is no longer the solution to meet their mercury discharge standards. Now water treatment plants have the responsibility to either stop the source of the mercury pollution or pay hefty fines for going over their mercury discharge limits. As just mentioned, because of mercury and amalgam dissolves into soluble form is well know by water treatment plants that dentists are the highest polluters of mercury waste.
Narrator: We know that your chair side trap and your central solids collector capture the bulk of broken amalgam fillings but that's not the issue for the EPA. Your high speed drill which carefully removes the last remnant of broken amalgam filling from the tooth reduces the amalgam into a fine dust. Which when mixed with the water from your syringe and the patients saliva emulsifies it to a liquid waste stream that by passes your physical collection traps, enters your vacuum piping system and then drains into the public sewer system arriving eventually at your cities publicly owned treatment works. It takes only a teaspoon of mercury to contaminate a 10 acre lake and impair fish consumption. The EPA has estimated that a typical dental office produces up to 3 pounds of mercury waste every year. Our amalgam separator captures over 99% of that mercury. Which will keep you compliant.
Jason: All amalgam separators are refined solids collector. They will capture anything that's heavier than water. What would fill an amalgam separator faster than anything is prophy paste from your hygienist. A common misconception we hear from dentists is, I don't place amalgams anymore however, almost everyday you restore broken amalgam fillings. It is estimated that almost 60 million amalgam restorations are placed every year in America with the life expectancy of 10 to 15 years you will be replacing broken amalgam fillings for the rest of your career. Once the micro particles of amalgam pass through your chairside traps into your suction line, an amalgam separator is needed to capture the mercury. The micro particles, biofilm and prophy paste enter the LiberyBoss through it's inlet. They lid of the LibertyBoss is an air water separator, slowing everything down so all material heavier than water can settle in our settling leg.
Up to this point the LibertyBoss is functioning like most ISO 11143 amalgam separators. Once all the material settles the water climbs over from the settling leg into a filtration leg. The MARS LibertyBoss is the only amalgam separator to have a media bag that captures solid on mercury. Surpassing the ISO standard on amalgam separators.
Only the LibertyBoss has been independently studied to capture and prevent solid and soluble mercury from flowing out of your waste water into our environment. The LibertyBoss is the only amalgam separator to help in independently studied to have the ability to capture soluble mercury. This makes the LibertyBoss the best available technology and the most environmentally friendly amalgam separator.
Dr. Alla Aver: Being a biological dentist, I have always been enormity conscious about proper disposal of mercury fillings.
Dr. Chris Pavletic: I think we're all together in this and it's really easy to do, it's not a big deal and it's something that you can control.
Dr. Alla Aver: Unfortunately not too many dentist are conscious about it. And the cost of being involved, installing it I think it's worth every penny.
Dr. Chris Pavletic If you’re on the fence about different products, the M.A.R.S. separator unit is an easy call.
Dr. Alla Aver: The MARS amalgam separator is extremely easy to install, maintenance free, very easy to operate, it's noiseless.
Dr. Chris Pavletic: They've give you a product for 3 years that's maintenance free. They take care of the change, they dispose of the waste correctly. Fantastic! You don't have to do anything.
Dr. Alla Aver: The nicest thing about it is none of us get exposed to the amalgam waste and the biohazardous material.
Dr. Patricia Gilleran:The nicest thing about it was I didn't have to tend to it at all. The staff didn't have any maintenance and I didn't even know it was in the office. The suction was good, nothing changed, except that I knew I was keeping mercury from the environment.
Jason: M.A.R.S. offers a written guarantee of compliance with every LibertyBoss. If you have a LibertyBoss M.A..R.S. will make sure your practice will be compliant no matter what your local regulation is. You could run your dental practice knowing M.A.R.S. is keeping you, your staff and your community safe. Unlike other amalgam separators, the LibertyBoss is a true a maintenance free system. There's isn't a need for weekly maintenance to check for clogging and filling, constant filter changes or decanting. Just install the LibertyBoss and forget about it for up to 3 years. The M.A.R.S. LibertyBoss is easy to install and can fit in any tight spaces. In your mechanical room, simply cut your main vacuum line coming from your chairs at one end, easily attach the top of the separator and at the other end, easily attach the bottom of the separator before your solids collector and vacuum pump. Once the LibertBboss is installed in front of your solids collector and pump you will no longer be exposing yourself to methylmercury everytime you change your solids collector which will not have to be as changed as often anymore. As another added benefit, the LibertyBoss will protect your pump and help it last longer. With the LibertyBoss there's 0% exposure to mercury because unlike other amalgam separators, the LibertyBoss is never opened in a dental practice. Exposing you and your office to methylmercury. At the end of your service life, you or your technicians simply detaches the 2 hoses and the entire unit gets safely recycled.
Narrator: Save yourself the headaches. Save the environment and best of all become compliant. The most cost effective product on the market. And you don't have to worry about changing the filters or exposing your office staff to the waste. Saving up to 50% over our competition guaranteed. After the term of use, you simply disconnect the unit and send it in. We'll even pay for the shipping. No more replacing filters on contaminated units. Through this exclusive program, we'll replace the entire unit letting you rest assured you're not exposed to years worth of amalgam and biowaste accumulation. The only true maintenance free separator on the market. And getting in our program will save your practice of fortune, year after year.
Jason: Thank you for listening to our introduction to amalgam separators and the EPA regulation. If you have any further questions about amalgam separators or the EPA regulation do not hesitate to contact any of the M.A.R.S. certified amalgam specialists from our distributor page. Or call mars directly at 1-866-594-3648. Thank you for your time and we are looking forward to seeing you as a part of the M.A.R.S. family.
Hi it's Jason from M.A.R.S. Bio-med. Today we're talking about some great news. The EPA regulation for amalgam separators is going to print June 14, 2017. By time this video's released, it's already been a few days. Which means starting July 14, 2017 dental practices in United States will require to have an amalgam separator by July 14, 2020 at the very latest. As the regulation has been passed and been sent to print, you'll find that your local water treatment plants or POTW's or privately owned treatment works will require dental offices to get an amalgam separator sooner than later. The reason is water treatment plants have an issue of high mercury discharge and are aware that the highest polluter of mercury are coming from dental offices. So for those of you who already have an amalgam separator and think you are going to be compliant, please read this article or watch the rest of this video. Every ISO 111432008 amalgam separator will meet the EPA regulation but it may not meet your water treatment plants standards. As an independent study has shown, most amalgam separators, create and release soluble mercury. A large concern for your local water treatment plant as they don't have the technology to remove soluble mercury at the large treatment plants. They got to find it at source. Below you will see a link to an excerpt of the previous environmentally study, environmental sorry study on this amalgam separators. When EPA regulation is released it cannot be enforced by the EPA. It's stated in the regulation the responsibility will be passed on to your local water treatment plant.
In 2015 the EPA took away the POTW's ability to dilute water to meet the mercury discharge allowance. The EPA regulation requires a ISO 11143 amalgam separator. The use of a (57:31 unclear) line cleaner that has a PH between 5 and 8.5, as well the proper disposal of amalgam waste. Chairside traps, contact or noncontact amalgam, solid collectors that are not located after your amalgam separator. The amalgam separator will need to be maintained to manufacturer specifications. So for example if you have a filter based amalgam separator you're going to have to do a weekly maintenance on inspections for (00:57:00 unclear) based on manufacturers manuals on their systems. For a detailed brief down about the EPA regulation, there is a link below that states EPA regulation. You can also go to the M.A.R.S. website for preventive maintenance. So if you have an amalgam separator already, M.A.R.S. ( 58:20) preventative maintenance on the top 6 separators sold in North America. And we'll show you how to maintain it to manufactures specifications. In EPA regulation, if your POTW deemed your mercury discharge too high they have the right to supersede the EPA regulation and require stricter standards for your practice. Soluble mercury is creating a big issue from our treatment plant as I mentioned but they do not possess the technology to remove it. Should that POTW deem your practice to be discharging too high, your office will be forced to follow their best management practices. This means your water treatment plant will have to find the source for pollution and resolve the issue. This could be done in multiple different ways. They could create fines, they could create new local standards and regulations and they could sell you ablution permits, just to name a few options.
In 2014, studies were released providing evidence that the highest source of soluble mercury pollution are from dental practices. As we all know, mercury amalgam contains tin. Tin has the ionic charge that releases mercury into it's free state which is a gas. What we many not know, when mercury is submerged under water it is released into a soluble mercury at a very high rate. This is what’s the major concern for water treatment plants. All amalgam separators are required to be ISO 11143 certified. Which only tests for solid mercury. Unfortunately the technology and standards for ISO testing on amalgam separators have not been updated to meet the current requirements for water treatment plants who will be setting and verifying discharge units. Generally, how an amalgam separator works is they are a fine solids collector. They will capture anything that's heavier than water. And it's all settlement based. The issue with this method as mentioned above, when mercury amalgam is submerged in water, it releases into a soluble form. This means any of this settling base type amalgam separators will generate and release more soluble mercury than they capture. Making it much harder for you to meet your local water treatment plant standards. The M.A.R.S LibertyBoss goes beyond the ISO testing. We have the 2 stage filtration, we have a settling side like any other amalgam separator and we also have a filtration side the media bag that actually captures soluble mercury. The LibertyBoss has been independently tested to be the only amalgam separator to capture soluble mercury. This is one of the way as the MARS Liberyboss different from any ISO amalgam separator. Our process makes the LibertyBoss not only the most environmentally friendly amalgam separator but the best available technology in the industry.
What is best for your practice? When you’re deciding on an amalgam separator for your practice, M.A.R.S. suggest a few standards that may help you make a decision a little easier. Number 1- Does your amalgam separator manufacturer offer a written guarantee? M.A.R.S. are so confident in our product that we offer a written guarantee with every LibertyBoss. Any practice with our system will meet or exceed local EPA or POTW regulations. If you don't, M.A.R.S. will make sure you dod. Why spend of money on an amalgam separator without any guarantee? - Have you done your research? It's a good idea to call around the different manufacturers and get information about the system that you are considering. Remember to ask them if they offer a written guarantee to comply with any current or future regulations as your local water treatment plant may not have their best medical practice written yet, so you don't know what's going to be expected. Also read the manual for the amalgam separator you are purchasing. Many filter based amalgam separators require weekly inspections for filling and (01:02:22). That's something you should be aware of- all the maintenance required on the system. Ask your service company which system they sell and you will find even the largest of service companies will only carry 2 or 3 different models. It would be a good idea to call different dental suppliers because amalgam separator manufacturers may choose not to work with every service company, even the big ones. What maintenance is required and what’s the cost involved? We will suggest no matter what system you're looking at get a 2 or 3 year cost analysis or estimate on the cost. The cost to consider is not just the cost of purchasing the system. It's the filters, what’s the cost of those? How often to change them, what's the maintenance required? What's the cost of recycling these systems? How often the system has to be maintained? Most amalgam separators that are filter based the average is every 6 months on an average 3 chair practice. So the cost of the filter's could actually be 2 or 3 times more expensive than the system itself. You want to look above the market, some of these systems will offer you a free amalgam separator. If you buy their pump or you are looking for amalgam separator, they will just hand you a free system but most filter based amalgam separators run on the Gillette principle, which means I'll give you a free amalgam separator if you keep buying my filters because that’s where they make their money. During research for the right product, if the amalgam separator that you choose has any maintenance at all, you bought the wrong amalgam separator. A maintenance based amalgam separator, leaves chance for failure. An amalgam separator maintained properly can protect your equipment. If you don't have a properly maintained amalgam separator, it’s going to kill your suction, your pump which means you lose business. The office will be shutdown to figure out how to get suction back and it can also cause repercussions from your local regulation or local regulating bodies. If your water treatment plant sees the amalgam separator is not being maintained to manufacturer specification, you will be polluting because of it. It’s the doctor's legal responsibility to maintain the systems regardless if you pay the technician to service the system or not.
The LibertyBoss is the only one that requires no maintenance. All they ask, is you use a daily neutral (01:04:56 unclear) evacuation line cleaner everyday. Which is a process you already do when maintaining the suction lines. Now the only other thing we ask is change your system based on the service schedule. So 1 to 3 chair practice lasts 2 years, 4 to 9 chair practice lasts 2 years, 10 to 16 chairs last 1 year. And we also have a reminder program set up. So once you fill up the warranty card and send it to us we will remind you a month before the system is due. So you don't have to worry about it. You won’t have to look at it for up to 3 years. The cost of the LibertyBoss includes a guaranteed compliance for up to 3 years, shipping, safe recycling and reminding of when the system is due along with the receipt of recycling, a written warranty against any defects, free advertising as an environmentally friendly dental practice and a guarantee of compliance. Please remember do not make this decision lightly.
The right amalgam separator could be a large asset for your practice. You will not only protect your equipment and make it last longer but it will protect your community for your patients and your family. Making the wrong choice with an amalgam separator will not only cost your practice, time and money but it will also hurt your community. I hope this information have been helpful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call MARS `Bio-med at 1-866-594-3648 or visit us on the web marsbiomed.com. Thank you for you time. I hope to see you part of M.A.R.S. family.