Advances in modern dental materials and techniques like Ceramic fillings increasingly offer new ways to create more pleasing, natural-looking smiles. Researchers are continuing their often decades-long work developing esthetic materials, such as ceramic and plastic compounds that mimic the appearance of natural teeth. As a result, dentists and patients today have several choices when it comes to selecting materials used to repair missing, worn, damaged or decayed teeth.

The advent of these new materials has not eliminated the usefulness of more traditional dental restoratives, which include gold, base metal alloys and dental amalgam. The strength and durability of traditional dental materials continue to make them useful for situations where restored teeth must withstand extreme forces that result from chewing, such as in the back of the mouth.

Dental amalgam is a compound of mercury and other metals and is often called a silver filling because of its appearance. While dental amalgam continues to be a commonly used restorative material, some have raised concern because of its mercury content, but their concern is unfounded. Although mercury by itself is classified as a toxic material, the mercury in amalgam chemically combines with other metals to render it stable and safe for use in filling and restoring teeth.

Hello,

Generally mercury in dental amalgam combines with other metals to form a stable dental filling. But in the same way that sodium and chlorine combine to form harmless table salt. A few amounts of mercury vapor will be released by amalgam fillings during vigorous chewing or grinding, but there is no scientific evidence that this negligible amount will harm you.

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Dental Scaler