Need advice: non BPA-free composite fillings

[mammal_mama]

My 7 year old dd needs two fillings and is scheduled for this in January. We have Medicaid for our girls, and literally do not have the money to pay privately for dental care. We have been very happy with the dental clinic at our local children's hospital (Children's Mercy), which is connected with the UMKC Dental College. Even though our girls haven't always gotten the same dentist every time, we have been very happy with all of the dentists and all of the staff. When looking for a Medicaid dentist some years back, I checked around to find one that allowed parents to be in the room with their children, and they are very supportive of this so that's why I initially chose them.

A few years back, dd had to have fillings in her baby teeth, and when I checked at that time, they did use BPA-free composite feelings. The other day, it occcurred to me to check to make sure that this was still the case, and I was surprised to learn that the fillings are no longer BPA-free.

Since we've been so happy with them, I want to call on Monday to find out if it would be possible for us to pay the extra cost for BPA-free fillings, and if it is possible for them to get them.

If it's not possible, I plan to start looking for a Medicaid dentist who does BPA-free fillings. But I'm concerned since our current clinic was using BPA-free and stopped...it makes me wonder if the crisis has resulted in Medicaid not covering the safer kind of BPA fillings.

At any rate, I've just read an article that has me wondering if amalgam fillings are safer than composite fillings containing BPA.

I really welcome any input that anyone here has about this. I'd especially love to hear from other moms who have Medicaid for their children and live in the Kansas City area. I do also need to find a new dentist for my 12 year old, because I've just learned that our current clinic only treats children up to age 12.

[Princess_Rainbow]

I talked alot with our dentist about BPA-free fillings. Turns out i wasnt the first one to ask him, and he did a pretty thorough research. He hasnt found any of a good quality in US, he ended up ordering them a couple month ago from some company in Germany. my daughter just got 2 cavities filled, and i trully hope they hold until those baby teeth fall out.

[mammal_mama]

I’m glad you were able to get those fillings for your daughter! Do you know how much they cost? If I can find another dentist who takes Medicaid, allows parents to come in the room with their children, and is willing to use BPA-free fillings, it may be a case where I need to buy them myself.

Our current dentist is not willing to order BPA-free fillings and let me pay the difference, or even to use BPA-free fillings supposing that I am able to acquire some. They can only use what comes through the hospital, and I suppose if the BPA-free fillings in the U.S. are of lower quality than the ones with BPA, there might be a concern, with Medicaid, about using products that are likely to need to be replaced more often, thereby costing the taxpayers more money.

One concern that I have is whether there are some other harmful substances in composite fillings besides BPA. If BPA-free fillings break down even faster than the ones with BPA, could they be leeching lots of other harmful stuff into the person’s bloodstream? I think more about this because dd’s two cavities are in her permanent teeth; I’m glad your daughter’s are in her baby teeth and won’t be there permanently!

And about the issue of breaking down, all composite fillings break down faster than amalgam fillings, so there’s the issue of whether, for a permanent filling, a person is more likely to be harmed by the large amounts of BPA (or possibly other harmful stuff that we don’t know about yet) leeching from a regular composite filling than by the much smaller amount of mercury leeching from an amalgam one.

This is such a dilemma, and I wish like crazy that dd’d never gotten those cavities in her permanent teeth. The article I read on fillings with BPA versus fillings with amalgam actually finishes by talking about how to prevent tooth decay so you never have to worry about this stuff. Kind of a slap in the face, as I imagine most people reading the article are parents like me who have kids with cavities. (I'm sorry that, for some reason, the system is not letting me make paragraphs right now.)