Fire officials say a Massachusetts apartment building has been deemed uninhabitable after a man mistook dental fillings for silver, melted them and caused mercury poisoning.
Fall River District Fire Chief Michael Clark said the 51-year-old resident melted the fillings Jan. 25 and went to the hospital three days later. Initially, doctors couldn’t understand what made him ill.
Toxic levels of mercury were discovered when emergency officials responded to the building Saturday, after a 17-year-old girl who lives there became ill. She tested positive for mercury and was transported to a Rhode Island hospital.
The unidentified culprit is the grandson of a dentist who tried to melt a bag of unused fillings on a stovetop. WJAR reports that he believed the fillings contained silver that he could convert to cash
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