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Saturday, June 11, 2011

Mercury teeth fillings

Open your mouth and see silver. That's what most of us who have fillings in our teeth see, because until about 10 years ago the mercury has been used as a filling for cavities by dentists. A new trend is to replace these, because they are though to be dangerous.

Yet both the Food and Drug Administration and the American Dental Administration state that the levels of mercury in fillings is insignificant to cause harm.

Mercury fillings have been used for the past 50 years by dentists, and in many areas they are still used because they are cheaper than the better looking white fillings. Yet there has never been a study done that showed mercury fillings are harmful.

As this article notes, some people note that their allergies improved after having the mercury fillings replaced. Yet no study has proved this. Tens of millions of people have them, and there's never been a reported problem.

One dentist seems to make sense when he notes, ""Mercury is considered hazardous before it goes in the mouth. It has to be disposed of as hazardous waste when it comes out of the mouth. Why would it be safe in the mouth?"


My dentist has actually recommended I get mine replaced, yet I don't think its worth the $350 to do so. I actually think he needs to pay off his college loan, because he also wants me to pay for a $400 bite block to keep me from grinding my teeth at night when I sleep with my mouth open and don't grind my teeth.

Anyway, I just thought this was interesting. What do you think?

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1 comment:

Josiah said...

I certainly wouldn't want them in my mouth. Though if you do get them removed consider carefully who removes them as the process could release a lot of mercury into your system at one time.