History of Silver in Medicine

Visible Silver Protection - Working for a Life Free of Pain
Precious Life + Precious Metal

Born with a silver spoon in your mouth
This originally meant that you had a better chance of surviving childhood. We now know that silver eliminates E-Coli and salmonella. Both of these organisms were prevalent on non-silver eating utensils and were a common source of infant sickness and mortality.

Every cloud has a silver lining.
The aristocracy in Rome and elsewhere during the Middle Ages drank from silver goblets, which were known to provide natural antibacterial protection. Because people equated silver with clean water and because rainwater was considered clean water, the two were joined: silver-like water was the advantage of poor weather.

He is silver-tongued
Today this saying refers to the wisdom or cleverness of an individual. However, the saying originally dates back to the Middle Ages, when royalty would test their wine for poison with a silver rod. If the rod turned black, it meant that there was arsenic in the wine. So, if you had a silver tongue, you possessed supernatural talents.

I wish I had a silver bullet
These are a few of the countless sayings about silver that transcend cultural differences. Each culture has similar, if not identical, sayings. The intrinsic understanding of the value of silver is, therefore, common around the world.

Today, silver is used for its broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties in healthcare products ranging from bandages and plasters to burn care treatments to catheters—almost any products where infection controls are critical. The majority of Americans are first exposed to silver at birth, when silver nitrate eye drops are used to prevent infection. Silver is also widely used for industrial applications, most notably in drinking water filters and swimming pool filtration systems.