Could your dental fillings be putting you and your family’s health at risk?

The issue at hand: the fillings contain mercury, which is a known danger to the nervous system.

This is a controversial issue and has been for years.

Mercury is a component of the amalgam used in "silver" fillings. In fact, it’s 50 percent mercury.

Now, this mercury has been thought for most of the 150 years it’s been used to be inactive…and causing no harm.

But critics say it causes a variety of ills, from neurological to cardiac problems, to cancer.

Two new studies, though, are strong evidence that silver amalgum fillings don’t create any problem with regard to neurological development and behavior in children.

There have been reports--albeit, controversial ones over their accuracy--that this amalgum is vaporized under pressure from chewing; and, that correlates with elevated urine, blood and tissue mercury levels, creating a potential health risk, including to neurological and psychological development in children.

Now, there are alternatives to amalgum called composite material, and they’ve gotten better, but the big gripe is that they are not as strong and durable as is amalgum.

Dr. Jason Psillakis, a dentist with Columbia Presbyterian Eastside, says, “Silver mercury fillings still play a part in the dental practice although rmoe and more dentists are moving away form silver mercury fillings going toward more other alternative restorations more white type restorations composites.”

Composites have gotten better over the years.

But now, two new studies in the journal of the American Medical Association show there were no significant differences in neurological and psychological and behavioral areas between those getting amalgum and those getting composite fillings.

However, children randomly assigned to the amalgam group had higher average urinary mercury levels than those in the resin-based composite group.

Dr. David Kirby, author of the book ‘Evidence of Harm’, says, “Many people believe and this is written about in my book ‘Evidence of Harm’ that children with autism and other disorders have a deficiency, they have an inability to excrete mercury that they are exposed to and that would include mercury from any source including from dental amalgams.”

Still, for example, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of five-year change in IQ scores.

“In these kids the presence of dental amalgams would be another source of mercury exposure possibly contributing to this larger amount that might tip some kids over into neurological damage this study was not big enough,” believes Kirby.

Which is why even experts in the journal are still calling for more studies with the hope that eventually, the evidence will tip the scale definitively in one direction.

For now, it appears those standing by amalgum fillings at least win the battle.

“It’s safe it lasts it’s been used for over two hundred years, the American dental association still stands behind it, they are very strong restorations you can use them in most parts of the mouth,” believes Dr. Psillakis.

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