A HAMPSHIRE woman who suffered from depression for nearly 40 years and was even sectioned has made an astonishing recovery - after having her fillings taken out.

Mary Stephenson claims she suffered decades of serious mental health problems because mercury from her dental fillings was poisoning her blood and brain.

The 59-year-old made an incredible recovery after having 19 fillings taken out - and says she's now enjoying a new lease of life.

Mrs Stephenson, of Kings Road, Lymington, had the mercury amalgam fillings fitted just before the birth of her first son, Paul, in 1966.

Soon afterwards, she began to get depressed.

Husband John, 67, told the Daily Echo: "She would wake up in the morning and feel different and she didn't know why. Some days, she couldn't even think about what to wear. She had a fear about opening letters. Mary was a totally different person from the intelligent and able person I knew. It was very frightening."

The depression grew worse and, in 2002, she began self-harming.

"There were times when I really wanted to end it all because life was just so awful and helpless," said Mrs Stephenson.

She was sectioned and kept in hospital for two years.

It was only at the beginning of 2004 that a chance remark to retired Mr Stephenson set him thinking that the mercury in his wife's fillings might be to blame.

"I did some research and took a long time persuading Mary to take the gamble, but in January this year a dentist started removing her fillings," he said.

Mary's dentist, John Anhearne, replaced them with plastic composite fillings.

This summer, on a day out from hospital, Mrs Stephenson went clothes-shopping for the first time in years. Two months later, she was allowed home.

"The day I was released I went to The Mayflower in Southampton with some friends," she said.

"I suddenly thought, I am a free person! A lot of people never even knew me as I was but my husband John didn't give up. I owe everything to him."

MERCURY FILLING:

About nine million mercury fillings are fitted every year.

Mercury fillings have been used for 150 years.

Standard silver fillings include 50 per cent mercury.

The metal can enter the bloodstream by evaporating and being inhaled, through corrosion caused by chewing or by seeping into the gums.

Only three per cent of the population are particularly sensitive to mercury poisoning.

The Department of Health, the World Health Organisation and the European Union all consider that mercury fillings are safe.