Posted by yxibow on January 12, 2009, at 23:09:49
In reply to Re: What's the deal with silver amalgams? » HyperFocus, posted by Larry Hoover on January 12, 2009, at 22:26:00
Hrm.... I don't want to say too much to irritate people who believe otherwise and its their personal opinion, but yes, they have been time tested by the ADA and that isn't just lip service.
There is a lot of misinformation out there about mercury amalgams.
I would say this -- the jury is still out at the present on them, although almost all studies have shown otherwise, some doctors have been convinced otherwise.
The thing that I think is a waste of money and a travesty and a potential risk of actually increasing mercury in your system and teeth deterioration is the rather dangerous practice of having all your fillings removed and replaced with something else.
Mercury amalgams strengthen teeth in the back of the mouth more than the front and thus are used for this purpose because it really does save teeth decay, which is something I don't think anyone wants to have, regardless of the trivial amount of mercury that may or may not be present, dentures and bridges are not a fun option.
For the front teeth, plastic/synthetic fillings can be used more often, at least from what I recall, I may have some of this mixed up, but I think that is the general gist.
I can't imagine a dentist being adamantly mercury strong or not, other than that they believe in the studies of the ADA and their dentist license, which after all they did go to dentistry school for.
Dentists are trained in surgery, not the kind that is performed in a hospital but they have to take some form of true surgical training, since DDs does mean doctor of dentist surgery.
Typically though, they refer people to a surgeon for things like wisdom tooth extraction as that is a major dentist surgery and is best done by a specialist.
I have asked for plastic ones before, and yes, I have gotten the indication that an amalgam would be better, I do get cavities.
I mean if I really insisted, I don't know if my dentist would not do it but I do trust his better judgment as I have seen him for years.
Anyhow just my thoughts
-- Jay
poster:yxibow
thread:873639
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/873657.html