Amalgam Fillings? and Local anasthetic?

gmvwtim

Hello people

I recently had my first filling at age 28, i'm with an NHS dentist local to me, it was a grey filling (not shiny yet), the dentist seemed to squeeze it out of a tube or similar, so i'm assuming its Amalgam, whats peoples thoughts on them?

i didnt know at the time but they contain Mercury, knowing that now i might of been tempted to pay more for a non mercury version.

And also i had a local anasthetic for the filling, an injection into the gum, it took 5 hours to clear and left my jaw and ear hurting on one side (the filling side), my jaw still hurts 2 days later, the local anathestic numbness made it all the way up and above the level of my ear, do you think he injected too much in?

The tooth feels fine though, its just my jaw when i open it enough to eat that hurts, its probably just because my jaw was wide open for 20 mins for the filling, and of course you cant feel if your jaw is hurting at the time, hopefully it will pass soon.

Thanks for any thoughts/help

Tim

Toothsmith

Amalgam has been used for getting on for 150 yrs, and the dental profession's plot to wipe out humanity by poisioning everybody has so far failed!

I wouldn't loose any sleep over one amalgam filling.

You're likely to be exposed to more free, and harmful, mercury in the form of organic mercury compounds from a portion of tuna than you ever will from your filling.

Plus - all the alternative filling materials have something in them that in one situation or another has been shown to be harmful to something!

If you really want a 'safe' filling material, then gold is the thing to choose. But then, you need to stick it in with something, and you're into the same old toxic dental materials!

As for the anaesthetic, I assume that it was a lower tooth that was numbed?

As you said, holding your mouth open for so long can easily cause a bit of stiffness for a day or two, but also, the injection to numb lower molars can also bruise the area close to your jaw joint, or the muscle. this two can cause a bit of discomfort for a day or two afterwards. Just one of those things I'm afraid.

alison999

The bite may need ajusting perhaps, have you rung your dentist yet for any advise? How recent did you have it done?... as for mercury here are also "risks" with composite (white) fillings. Everything has pros and cons attached to it.

tirednewdad

Your jaw hurts probably because of the local aneasthetic. When it is injected a really narrow needle is used (so it doesn't hurt as much). Unfortunately using a narrower needle means that your main structures like your blood vessels and nerves are peirced by the needle instead of being pushed to the side.
If one of your blood vessels are nicked by the needle it will bleed into the surrounding tissues- this causes the soreness in your jaw.

It will get better over the next few days/weeks and using a hot water bottle and jaw excercises help the healing.

note- the bleeding will have stopped by now so you don't have to do anything else.

As for the Amalgam filling. Yes they do contain Mercury but it is bonded to several other metals which makes it inert. A small amount is released when fillings are placed and removed. but it is a very small amount and has no proven ill effects.
There is a link with Alzhiemers and mercury but no evidence to prove it.

The filling that you had contains the same amount of mercury as you would find in 6-8 cans of tuna- don't worry about it. Don't bother getting it replaced unless it is a cosmetic issue as you will release more mercury (no matter how small)

gmvwtim

Thanks to Toothsmith and everybody for there brilliant, informative and incredibly fast replies.

Nice to be reassured that everything is normal (well so far) and that Amalgams are trusted enough especially as i only have one so far anyway, like you say all filling materials have there own drawbacks, ideally we would all have our original teeth in perfect condition, but thats not going to happen, the risks are much greater with no filling at all.

It was indeed a lower tooth that was numbed, My jaw is getting better so i'll just have to give it a bit more time to heal completely.

Thanks again

Tim

scruffy96uk

On the same topic I'm due to get a filling next week and now refuse to get injections in my mouth. How sore is it to get an old filling removed and replaced with a new one?????

TIA for any replies

Toothsmith

Just have an injection and stop woosing about!

If it's deep (the filling), it'll hurt without. If it's shallow, it might not.

Take advice from your dentist, not some forum.

Pennylane

Anybody see the prog tonight on Amalgam Fillings?

Toothsmith

Yes - what a day I'm going to have tomorrow!!!!

The units on that device measuring the mercury vapour was in micrograms per metre cubed.

Does anybody actually know what 2.9 (the reading on the dial) micrograms of mercury in a metre cubed of air would look like?

That's 2.9 thousanths of a gram.

Probably less mercury than is in a can of tuna. And certainly a lot less likely to stay in the body than the mercury compounds found in sea fish.

Oh - and whilst we're on environmental mercury, anyone know the biggest user of mercury compounds now?

Low energy light bulbs!!! Any chance phasing them out do we think???

Lorna8111

Yes!! And I'm gutted once again by the media slant on this subject. We're supposed to only carry out treatment that has a sound evidence base in dentistry - now they want us to ban something with a theoretical risk and no evidence base whatsoever? Even studies conducted on dental professionals have not shown mercury levels that could be classed as a risk to health and we must be exposed to it for the vast majority of our working day!

Crabman

Pennylane wrote: »

Anybody see the prog tonight on Amalgam Fillings?

It's difficult for the general public to feel assured as to the safety of amalgam fillings after seeing the programme tonight.

I thought "Peter Ward" (The British Dental Association Chief) acted immature, waving his arms, wiggling his fingers at the camera and trying to somehow prevent himself being filmed by covering the camera, after tripping over himself following what was, in truth, a simple question.

I'd expect that sort of puerile behaviour from a cowboy builder type being chased down by Dom Littlewood, or perhaps a child under 10, but not the Chief Executive of the BDA.

It's a shame that he couldn't give simple and reassuring answers to the straightforward questions being put to him. I wonder whether he'll be CEO for much longer, as he hasn't exactly instilled confidence with those who watched his interview or in the organisation itself by way of his unprofessional behaviour.