[nsmomtobe]

<p>Hi ladies,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm totally freaking out right now! I just had my first ever dental filling today and I was so worried about the procedure (mainly whether it was going to hurt or not) that I totally didn't even think about what was going into my mouth in terms of its safety for breastfeeding. In fact, I didn't think to ask what they were using until they were in the process of doing it. The dentist said it was a resin that was "like a type of plastic." Great. I have plastic in my mouth now. So I waited until my mouth was unfrozen before breastfeeding my DS, and then I came online to find out more about the filling. I don't know what it was made of, but from what I've seen, I'm guessing it has BPA in it. What about mercury? People keep mentioning that too. What levels are going to be in my breastmilk? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm really feeling stupid for not thinking about all this sooner, but this is new territory for me.</p>

 

[nsmomtobe]

<p>Obviously I am not planning to wean him but maybe I should nurse less often during the time it is most likely to leach into my system (how long is that?). He is about 75% breastfed, but I can reduce that to 50%. Is there anything I can give him to help reduce his exposure or clear his system?</p>

 

[tanyalynn]

<p>It is BPA, it's not mercury (mercury is fairly dark, it looks like a dark silver puddled material, not shiny and smooth like stainless steel which is sometimes used for crowns).  It's cleared by methylation, so folate and B12 help.  My impression--just an impression--is that it's not a huge exposure when they're placed and the amount circulating in you drops to normal within a couple days.  It's not great stuff, but when stuff like this happens to me (something I only realize after the fact as not great, even though sometimes I don't see an alternative way to deal with it), it helps me to figure out some longer-term changes to make to sort of offset it.  If you haven't already looked around at this place...</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ewg.org/healthyhometips/start" target="_blank">http://www.ewg.org/healthyhometips/start</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>take a look around, each topic is bigger than it looks in the 10-item list, but if you start making changes along those lines, and look at your diet for folate sources (lentils, legumes in general, green stuff, and liver, esp chicken liver), and B12, it seems like long-term you'll come out ahead. </p>

 

[nsmomtobe]

<p>Thank you so much for your reply! My husband said something similar about reducing/eliminating other exposure to toxins and I will definitely add more folate and B12 to our diet!</p>

 

[Koalamom]

<p>Great info tanya! </p>
<p>I had a white filing done recently, and the dentist told me that his ffice just switched to a kind that is free of BPA, so it could be some other junk but atleast not bpa.  So it could be the same in your case.</p>