Why should I remove my mercury / silver fillings?

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Cosmetic Dentist serving SLC, Park City, and Heber, Utah.

There are several reasons for patients to come to us to have their back teeth restored. Many people are concerned with the health risk of mercury and other metals. Some people just think they are ugly and do not want them in their mouth anymore. Others are tired of them breaking and then suffering the inconvenience, pain and expense of taking care of them.

Most of the dentistry that is done on adults today is a direct result of the ongoing damage that these fillings do to their teeth. They make them very weak (losing up to 80% of their strength) and they leak at the margins allowing decay to begin under them. Eventually the teeth are broken down to the point that extensive dental work is needed. Many of these old silver fillings "grow up" to be crowns some day.

In the past the only solutions were to either place another silver/mercury filling in the tooth, or grind it down to place a crown on it.

One of the most significant advances in dentistry has been the ability to bond our newer, non-metal materials to the tooth. This allows us to restore a tooth back to very near its original strength and beauty.

Now we have better choices. We can place a tooth colored filling material, usually called a composite, or porcelain. Composite is less expensive but a relatively weak material. It works wonderfully in smaller areas that do not take a great deal of direct chewing force. If we want something stronger and more permanent we will elect to restore the tooth with a porcelain onlay.

Typically the fee for a composite will be approximately twice the fee for a silver filling and a porcelain onlay will cost about 20% more than a regular porcelain fused to metal crown.

This dentistry is done much differently than anything we have done in the past. It is very critical that it is done in a precise manner. It must be done using a rubber dam for isolation and following exact step-by-step procedure. Some patients have had discouraging experiences with these types of restorations such as breakage, sensitivity and pain. That usually means there was a problem in the way the materials were bonded in. If done well, and the teeth are still healthy, they can be perfectly comfortable, incredibly beautiful and long lasting.