Dental: Anyone had amalgams removed?

[alex-lynne]

Thank you Mala for your suggestion.
I have had a lot of desire to remove my dental amalgams..I know this will be costly..anyone have any experience with this..and for teeth that have such a large filling..will they just have to pull it?
a-l

[amnesiac]

I have had half of mine done so far. I had them done when I was quite small so they had to be replaced anyhow.

[Queen Gwen]

Dh had this done about a year ago. I forget all the details, frankly, although I recall it took awhile to get it all done (several trips to the dentist to do all of the teeth).

They did some of the teeth with Cerec, which is for some of the bigger fillings. I had Cerec done on one of my teeth, just because dh was so wrapped up about how cool it was. The procedure really wasn't a big deal.

I missed your original post about why you're doing this and all. Dh had mercury testing before and after. His levels were low before and low after, I think. LMK if you want more details from him, and also what specifically you want to know about.

[alex-lynne]

Thank you both..
Actually..this was really my first post here about it. I made a quick post in another forum and some quick mentions in the vaccinations forum where the topic of mercury comes up.
I've felt for a few years that my amalgams have compromised my physical well-being.
For most of my teens and 20s I had just a tiny filling done here and there. Then by my late 20s I had no insurance..had gotten lax about regular visits..and there is some heredity, I guess. In one years time..after going to a dentist referred by a friend because of a painful wisdom tooth..I found out that I had a lot of teeth in need of amalgams, crowns and root canals. No insurance..I went tooth by tooth on a payment plan that took almost 2 years to pay.
My point is all of the work was done in a concentrated period...I believe my health suffered.
It took several years for me to learn the negative effects of mercury..that we don't use mercury thermometers, that the amount of mercury that would fit on the head of a pin would contaminate a 10 acre lake...that some states and other countries are limiting the use of mercury amalgam in young children and women of child bearing age.
I did see a mercury-free dentist about 18 months ago..in another state..I was visiting family..there are none in my area in any search I've done. But I was pregnant..so really we just talked and did a cleaning.
All of my teeth except the top front 6 and bottom front 8 have amalgam, porcelain over nickel crown (some placed over old amalgam) and root canal/crown or filling.
I feel like I should set off a metal detector.
I guess I'm afraid of losing all of the back teeth if there isn't some way of using composite or the material you and your husband had.
I think it is time to start really weighing my options.
thanks for any info
a-l

[Queen Gwen]

FWIW, the Cerec can be used if there's some tooth structure to attach it to. Dh remembers it as costing about $750 per tooth.

I mentioned the bit about his mercury levels in case that was a concern. As I said, he had tested low before he had all the fillings taken out. However, something you don't hear so much about is that filling your mouth with metal can disrupt the normal electrical currents that are flowing through your head (I haven't described that well -- sorry -- my own head is full of snot this morning, and I'm not focussing well). Dh thought that was the problem he was having. I first read about this idea in a book on holistic dentistry I found in the public library. I forget the name of the book...let me know if you want it, and I'll dig it up.

Dh has ms, so he feels it's worth it to have even a 1% improvement in health due to some procedure like having all his fillings replaced (hopefully it's a bigger improvement than 1%, but he celebrates any improvements).

I wonder, too, if the stress of having the work done and figuring out how to pay for it could have suppressed your immune system some, starting a downward spiral. I sort of recall that it took dh awhile to bounce back from all those replacement procedures because it's just plain stressful.

ETA: I personally react to nickel. When I had to have a crown I asked for it not to contain nickel. The dentist was surprised -- it's a fairly common thing to react to nickel, but most people are unaware of it and that you can build up a sensitivity to it over time. He said I was the 1st person to mention it, although he always offered non-nickel crowns.

Also, you can have pockets of infection under a root canal and crown. I think there's more info on this in the dental self-sufficiency website (I don't know the addy, but if you search for stuff like dental self sufficiency you'll find it).

[NoHiddenFees]

I recently had all my amalgam fillings removed and replaced with composite. All the fillings were old so our insurance covered the usual and customary charges and I footed the difference. Six fillings (one large five small) done on each side, and my total out of pocket was $400. That's $50 per tooth (not per filling) over the UAC of $100 plus the anaesthesia and related charges.

The two large fillings were drilled out, just like the small ones. One was large enough the dentist had to re-anaesthetize me because of some hurtful twinges, but other than that it was no big deal.

A month or so later, I find no difference except I seem a bit more prone to "ice cream" headache.

[siddie]

I would like to do this too. I checked into it with my regular dentist and he said that they would do the procedure by quarters of the mouth (lower right, upper right, so on) because that is how you numb. He said that I would need crowns over some of the teeth with larger fillings. He would be doing it for cosmetic reasons, not health so he doesn't believe in using a hood for the procedure. Dentists who do this for health reasons have a set procedure where they only work under the hood so the mercury vapors are sucked away from you. I also talked to a naet practitioner who said to call him for instruction because I would need to take some large doses of vit c to be sure the mercury is excreted and not absorbed into the body.

ARe you taking a good multivitamin? I had gotten lax after the pg/bf thing and found that my health suffered. I was diagnosed with asthma. Now that I am careful about my vit. and dietarty intake I am much healthier.

[Kavita]

I had my amalgams replaced. I got my mercury levels tested and they were high (btw, the test that most agree should be done is a "provoked test" where they give you a chelating agent, that binds the metals and flushes them out of the body. Usually you collect urine for 6-12 hours after the medication, then mix it up and send a smaller sample of that to the lab. A blood test will likely be low, because if you DO have mercury in the body it will likely be in your tissues, not floating around the bloodstream unless it's a recent exposure.)

Anyway, I would really be cautious about removing the amalgams without following a protection protocol, as the drilling/removal vaporizes mercury and you can end up with more of a health problem/health risk than it is now!! I have a holistic/alternative dentist that I really like and he is the one who removed my amalgams--his website is www.medicinewheeldental.com. I am sure that if you called they would be able to give you some information.

I did a lot of research about the issue before having the amalgams replaced, and I am glad that I did it, even though my insurance didn't cover it (I had a dental HMO and switched dentists to this guy from my HMO dentist.) I too had really big amalgam fillings in the molars--after they removed the bottom amalgams and before they started doing the new fillings, we took a break and I went to the bathroom and made the mistake of looking at my teeth in the mirror--the remaining tooth structure looked like stalactites in a cave in places!! That was how big the fillings were and how little of the tooth structure was left once they were removed. 3 or 4 of the molars will need to have crowns (which both this dentist and my previous dentist warned me was coming down the road anyway, because apparently over time the stupid amalgams break down after a certain number of years, and they damage the teeth in the meantime!!!!) But I was able to have "5 surface fillings" which is basically a filling that encompasses the front, back, sides and top of the tooth, in the meantime and will get the crowns done down the road. I had first the right side of my mouth done in one appointment, and the left one done in another appointment. It took HOURS but was suprisingly not bad because the dentist and his staff are very sensitive and kind.

I was scared too about damaging the teeth, but so far the only negative effect I've had (it's been about 7 months since they were all removed) is that my teeth were very sensitive for several months. (But I've always had very sensitive teeth anyway.) That has gotten better as time has worn on and the dentist has helped by adjusting the fillings to improve my bite as my bite readjusts. I still have some sensitivity, especially to pressure--for instance, I don't like eating really hard things like really hard tortilla chips, etc. But part of that is also because I have the tendency to grind my teeth/clench my jaw, and that makes it worse. Overall, I am very happy that I had my amalgams removed. I could feel the difference when he removed the first side--it was incredible!

Also, I underwent some chelation therapy with a naturopath. I finally stopped that because it was getting too expensive and we had to put off trying to get pregnant while in the process of that, but I still take an amino acid supplement for mercury detox and try to get lots of onion, garlic, and cilantro, which are all natural chelators of mercury. Also, I've just about stopped eating fish, except maybe a can of tuna or some salmon or shellfish every few months.

Good luck! I know this is kind of an old post and it may be a moot point by now, but I just had to jump in!!! PM me if you have any questions!

[farmer mama]

I had my one amalgam filling removed about six weeks ago and I just found out I am pregnant (conceived a month after the filling was taken out), should I be concerned or can anyone offer some peace of mind? Should I get my mercury levels tested?

[Kavita]

Farmer mama--I don't think you need to worry much. The whole topic of amalgams is controversial anyway--some people say it's no problem to get amalgams placed or removed while pregnant. While I don't agree with this (unless it's absolutely necessary to remove one for some reason, like it's crumbling away and therefore will be releasing mercury into the body anyway) there is also a dose/timing issue with any toxin. The amount of mercury released into your bloodstream from having one amalgam removed is going to be a lot less than from doing a total dental revision and having an entire mouthful of amalgams replaced. So that's the "dose" issue--a relatively small exposure. (Keep in mind that the darn things continually release mercury while they are in our mouths anyway, and the party line is that it's not a problem, at least not in the U.S.) And the mercury doesn't stay in your bloodstream forever--my understanding is that it tends to fairly quickly be either excreted in the urine or absorbed in the tissues (especially brain tissues.) Since it happenned before you were even pregnant, your blood mercury levels were probably low enough by the time the baby got "hooked up" to your blood supply to not pose a big problem. So that's the "timing" issue.

This isn't the time to test mercury levels, because blood tests and unprovocative urine tests only measure your very recent mercury exposures, and hair tests measure the exposures over a lifetime which don't really have anything to do with what a fetus might be exposed to now. The tests which really assess the body burden of mercury (and all other heavy metals) are provocative tests, which means that you take a chelating agent and then test the urine. The reason this is the way to test is that it measures the body burden of mercury, by the chelating agent binding the mercury, pulling it from the tissues, putting it into your bloodstream which eventually dumps it into the kidneys and intestines where it is excreted in urine and stool. In addition to mercury, the chelator will also pull out lead, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, and a host of other toxic heavy metals. The LAST THING you want to do while pregnant is to stir these things up, get them in your bloodstream and circulating to your baby!!

My best advice (from about 6 months of obsessive reading on this topic, lots of conflicting and confusing information and inadequate information really as it hasn't been really studied and the ADA is STILL refusing to acknowledge that mercury in dental amalgams is any sort of a problem for moms or fetuses or anyone for that matter) is to just avoid any further exposure to mercury in pregnancy or breastfeeding. Excessive tuna salad is probably more of a risk factor than having had the amalgam filling removed, so I'd just avoid any mercury- containing fish (tuna, especially albacore, whitefish, swordfish, shark, tilefish, and basically any big, large fish that lives a long time and eats a lot of other little fish along the way, contain levels of mercury that are unsafe for pregnant women.) The EPA and FDA have set some level for what is a safe level of fish consumption in pregnancy--personally, I plan to leave all fish the hell alone when I'm pregnant! And then I'd avoid all exposure to mercury once your baby is born--no thimerosol containing vaccines, no mackerel baby food (ok I'm making that one up! :LOL), no products containing any sort of mercury. (you can tell because they usually have "mer" in the word somewhere--like, thiMERosol, or MERcurochrome.)

[farmer mama]

Thanks for the response Kavita. I am amazed at how much you know about this! Your info has made me feel less freaked, and now I just want to focus on not exposing us to any mercury in pregnancy and breastfeeding (which I would do regardless of the filling concern). Right now I am having major issues dealing with the reality of our toxic world.