Although the American Dental Association and the Food and Drug Administration have given silver amalgam fillings the all clear, there are still those who believe silver amalgam fillings made with mercury could cause health problems.
Your Thousand Oaks Dentist will tell you that silver amalgam fillings have been used for more than 150 years but have started to lose their luster in the past few decades thanks to the use of tooth-colored fillings and the debate over health and environmental issues.
According to the AMA, silver amalgam filling use has dropped about 30 percent in the last 10 years, but dentists all over the globe continue to fill nearly 50 million teeth with amalgam every year.
The debate about safety continues to rage on, but the final ruling came from the FDA in 2009 deeming amalgam fillings safe for adults and kids under six. The clinical studies could not find a link between health problems and silver amalgam fillings because, according to those studies, the mercy levels were too low to cause any adverse reactions.
With that being said, advocates and toxicologists have discovered that mercury could harm your kidneys and neurological system. In fact, some states in American have a law that states dentists must disclose the percentage of mercury in silver fillings before use. Some studies indicate that there could be a link between mercury, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and even cancer.
According to a retired professor from the University of Kentucky, more than eighty percent of the mercury vapor from silver amalgam fillings can stay in your body’s tissue for days, weeks, months, or even years. In fact, cadaver studies have proved that bodies containing silver amalgam fillings have more mercury their brain tissue.
Even if you are not concerned with the levels of mercury in your silver amalgam fillings, it is imperative that you have your old fillings checked out by your Dentist in Thousand Oaks. Silver fillings will not last forever, and if your silver fillings are cracked or were not filled correctly in the first place, tooth decay could be hiding underneath your silver amalgam fillings.
Whether you agree or disagree with the AMA and the FDA, silver amalgam fillings are not very attractive, and that is where Oaksmile and the Conejo Valley Dental Institute come in. Schedule an appointment with your Thousand Oaks Dentist Dr. Rod Burton if you want to replace your silver amalgam with tooth colored fillings.