Amalgam Fillings

Amalgam

Amalgam has been used in dentistry for well over 150 years and with remarkable success. As the name suggests, amalgam is a mixture of several metals (namely silver, copper, tin and mercury). The term "silver filling" comes from the high content of silver and mercury in this compound hence the appearance of the material.

Due to presence of mercury (a known toxin) in the material a controversy has raged for many decades, both inside and outside the profession, regarding its safety. There is a very small percentage of the population that have a genuine hypersensitivity to amalgam but this is exceedingly rare. For those persons who demonstrate any heavy metal hypersensitivity it is recommended that amalgam be replaced with a suitable substitute.

Despite extensive worldwide research there is still no direct evidence that amalgam is detrimental to health. Quite simply, if there was we would not be using it at all at Blockhouse Bay Dental Centre. However, we are placing far fewer amalgams, not because of safety concerns, but rather owing to the availability of better alternatives such as composites and other materials (see composites).

Advantages of Amalgam:

• Simpler to place

• Low cost

Disadvantages of Amalgam:

• It is not tooth coloured, it is silver in colour

• It contains the "controversial" metal mercury

• It is held in place mechanically, that is by undercuts in the tooth cavity. This means that more of the tooth needs to be drilled away to allow the amalgam to stay in the tooth. Recently bonded amalgams have minimised this disadvantage. Please note: at Blockhouse Bay Dental Centre all of our amalgams are bonded.

• Amalgam takes 24 hours to reach maximum strength

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