Even though amalgam is deemed safe for use as a filling material for cavities in the UK, people are increasingly opting for white fillings, which are made from materials around which there is no controversy.
At PS Dental Care, your dentist in Soho, just two minutes’ walk from Oxford Street, we aim to use mercury as little as possible.
Right now, the General Dental Council considers mercury safe for use as a filling material, but there is an ongoing debate about its safety among scientists. They agree that amalgam fillings leak mercury into the mouth, but is it safe and if so, how much? This is where the debate now lies.
Meanwhile, porcelain composite materials have been used for quite a number of years as an alternative filling material, and, leaving the safety issue to one side, it can do things that amalgam can’t.
Keep more of your tooth
The first great thing about white fillings is that the dentist in Soho only needs to remove the decayed part of your tooth to use this material. With amalgam, we have to remove healthy tooth material as well. So, when you get a white filling, you keep more of your tooth. This means it stays stronger and more resilient to the powerful forces created when we chew.
Teeth with a chewing surface
Back teeth are designed by nature to grind up our food when we chew. That’s why they have bumps and hollows. Amalgam, which is a soft material, cannot recreate these, and so teeth with amalgam fillings become flat and less able to grind up food. White fillings set hard and can be shaped by your dentist in Soho to recreate the chewing surfaces of your teeth.
Fillings that blend in with your natural tooth colour
Let’s face it, amalgam fillings are unattractive. They glow a dark metal grey in the mouth, and, when you laugh, people can see just how many cavities you’ve had. White fillings don’t advertise your previous dental upsets to the world for eternity.
Feel better
Many patients report feeling better physically when amalgam fillings are gone. It may be that some people are more sensitive to the effects of mercury than others.