Switch Your Fillings

“Dear doctor,

I have a fairly serious problem. My teeth were filled about 15 years ago, and now I have an issue. I have read about the recent ban on mercury, and I am wondering if there has already been enough damage done to consider my options. Should i get new ones, or at this point, does it not make any sense to, and should I just deal with the ones that I have? Also, the gap between the teeth and the fillings is increasing, what do I do about that?

Love,

Jacob”

Dear Jacob,

You should definitely get new fillings, for two reasons really. One is that taking out a material that is known to cause cancer and dementia can never be a bad thing, it is always a good idea, regardless of how much you are going to save with it or how much damage it has caused in the past. The second one is that they are just too old, you should get new ones.

These kinds of amalgam fillings contain mercury. They are up to 50% mercury, as a matter of fact, and they also contain silver and tin in varying degrees, and besides this, there are trace amounts of other metals in there as well. The mercury starts to leach out, and seeing a sit is a neurotoxin and a metal, your health is greatly diminished, and you can even develop some lethal diseases like cancer for instance.

As for the second bit, you should get the amalgam replaced because the size of the cavity is now bigger than the amalgam that was on top of it. It may fall out and you can swallow it, which will make you sick. Get it removed and get a white filling instead. Tooth colored fillings are made of synthetic resins that bind to the sides of the cavity, and can fill up the entire pulp chamber, so you will not have this problem later on. With the current state of your fillings though, you risk getting an infection, and infecting yourself all the way down to the tips of your roots. When this happens, you need to get a painful and expensive root canal, which frequently leads to teeth dying, and often to extractions as well. Keep the tooth alive for longer and get a white filling, it really is worth it. Many dentistries will make it cheaper for you if they just need to repőlace a filling instead of having to make a new one for you.

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