What should I know before deciding to remove amalgam fillings and replace them with resin fillings?

Answer 1

Chances are you will need a root canal due to the significant microleakage of the resin material. DON'T TAKE THEM OUT!!!
(Unless your restoration is failing!) These restorations are extremely technique sensitive. Over-drying the tooth before the resin is placed can also cause extreme sensitivity.

Answer 2

You should know that most of the information telling you the "mercury" or amalgam fillings are bad is garbage. The research is sketchy at best and is based on correlation studies. Let me explain.

There's a correlation between eating ice cream and drowning. Why? You eat ice cream when it's hot out. You go swimming a lot when it's hot, hence you have more people who drown. The two have nothing to do with eachother yet there is a correlation between the two.

Conspiray theroists and alamist websites have found a correlation between people who have amalgams and people who have multiple sclerosis, cancer, nervous system problems, you name it. Yet not one study shows any evidence that one causes the other. The correlation is enough for them to make outrageous claims like get all your amalgams removed.

The mercury that is in amalgam is chemically bound up and the systemic dosage is very low. You actually get more mercury from a single seafood meal than you do from having a mouth full of amalgams for a month.

Now some whack job is going to read this, get all upset and tell you how wrong I am. Yet amalgams have been used in dentistry for over 100 years and have a proven and safe track record with not one case of anything being directly linked to them.
Also here's a recent article from the American Medical Association regarding amalgam safety.
http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=1881


Lastly it comes down to how long the fillings will last. Each time you do a filling it will be made bigger and bigger so there's a limit on how many times a given filling can be replaced before you move on to crowns and root canals. The average amalgam last 20 to 30 years given good oral hygiene. The average composite or resin restoration lasts 3-5 when placed in occlusion (your biting force). That's a lot more frequent change out schedule. Also they have a greater incedence of post op complications like sensitivity and causing teeth to need endo (root canals).

If you're bound and determined to get them out due to esthetics, consider porcelain inlays on the teeth that are visible when you smile. They are more expensive than composite, but last much longer. (insurance doesn't cover these however and it's about $500 per tooth. yeah wow.)

As a dentist I try to discourage my patients from taking out their amalgams because of the fear of mercury. I just feel I'm doing more harm than good to my patients and I let them know this. I know I've lost money because of it, but I sleep better at night.

Answer 3

You should know how much it will cost, how long it will take, and how much it will hurt.

Then you can weigh that against whatever you think is the benefit of the removal, presumably some kind of health benefit. If the expected benefit outweighs the expected downsides, then go for it.

Remember that mercury/silver amalgam fillings have been used extensively in millions and millions of people for many, many years.

Answer 4

you should know that all the hoopla about the mercury in your amalgams was bunk and untrue.

you should be aware that the amalgam fillings last years and years longer than resins.

and that if you asked your dentist- i bet his mouth has a few amalgams himself

Answer 5

Other than the cost to you (after insurance if you have it), how much pain and if you'll get pain medication, and how to care for it afterward, there's not a whole lot of decision there for you to make. You'll need to go to the dentist and have him/her decide whether you should have it done or not.