Posted on 04/18/2006 7:01:06 PM PDT by neverdem
Neurobehavioral Effects of Dental Amalgam in Children abstract
ping
I know I haven't been able to sleep at night waiting for the results of these 'government-funded studies'...........
Dental floss - Dentist employment insurance.
Some floss every day keeps the amalgam away.......
I would floss more but every time I try to floss my teeth bleed. So it seems like flossing is bad!!!
Flossing isn't bad......you are just flossing bad gums bad.
I wonder how much influence the dental insurance companies had in these findings. Insurance companies don't like to pay for tooth colored/resin fillings in posterior teeth, since they cost more than amalgams. And even if the insurance pays for the resin fillings at all, they only reimburse the dentist the amount they would pay for an amalgam. The patient is then often responsible for the difference in cost. The new amalgam fillings contain MUCH less mercury than earlier years. Amalgam is still a good restorative material in many situations and 100 years of history seems to indicate that amalgam is still generally safe and effective.
That's what I used to think - but go to the dentist and get a good cleaning. The hygienist will draw lots of blood during the process, but after that your gums won't bleed at all when you floss.
The point of flossing isn't to clean between your teeth as much as it is to stimulate your gums and keep them in a condition where they won't bleed. Took me a long time to learn that lesson... ;)
That's for sure. But it's worth paying the difference - you don't really want those ugly dark things in your mouth even if they prove to be harmless.
My understanding is that the real problem with amalgam fillings is that they expand with time and will often crack teeth after a couple of decades.
On a side note. I personally do not have any amalgams in my mouth. So, as a joke, this one dentist where I used to work, took a hair sample from me and sent it off to one of these "Anti-amalgam" organizations that said the would test you for mercury exposure. They sent the results that said I had high levels of mercury in my system and should have all of my amalgams systematically removed. HA HA
Ping.
Hmm, and what happens to these children when they reach 40? After many years of mercury 'poisoning,' what then? Will they continue to monitor them until they reach middle age?
That's not to mention those nifty radio stations you can pick up with metal fillings now and then...
That's news to me. Do you have any links?
Do you actually expect your fillings to last a couple of DECADES??? Lucky you!!! Depending on the dentist's skill and the oral hygiene habits and health of the patient, fillings RARELY last that long. Most people are lucky to get 10 years out of an amalgam or 5 years out of a resin filling before they start to get recurrent decay. As for the risk of a filling fracturing, that depends a lot on the size of the filling, as well as if the tooth has had root canal treatment done. It also depends on other factors, such as tooth grinding and eating partially popped popcorn kernels.
There are also corrosion issues, which is why I got rid of my amalgam fillings 15 years ago. For a small cavity, a big hole has to be drilled in order to get the amalgam in. And all it does is fill the hole. So the area between the tooth material and the amalgam sometimes gaps (due to some corrosion taking place) and cavities form in the hole. The newer bonding materials work much better, since it actually binds to the tooth material. Small cavity found early, less drilling. There is a drawback however with bonding material and large fillings (such as replacing amalgams). There is a long term curing process (over a span of years) outside of the initial curing where the material shrinks and places stresses on the tooth material which it is bound to. Thus causing cracks, and necessitating crowns.
The point of flossing isn't to clean between your teeth as much as it is to stimulate your gums and keep them in a condition where they won't bleed.
Wrong.
The point IS PRECISELY to clean your teeth free of plaque and the pathogens harbored within which cause gingivitis/periodontitis, and cosequently result in them bleeding upon probing or flossing.
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