Amalgam Dental Fillings

Amalgams, or silver fillings, are mercury filled restorations used to replace tooth structure lost due to bacteria releasing cavities. It is the mercury in these fillings that expand and contract (with fluctuations in temperature) thus causing our teeth to crack.

Placing an amalgam restoration sometimes requires removing excessive healthy tooth structure (sometime beyond the boundaries of the cavity) in order to provide bulk strength to the metal filling. The base of the filling must also be made wider to accommodate for retention. Both of these actions may weaken healthy tooth structure. When you combine this with the expansion of amalgam you can set yourself up for a cracked tooth situation.

Sometimes, long before a tooth break around a metal filling, the silver filling will expand the edge of the filling will become susceptible to chipping, eventually breaking off. This opens up passage ways for microscopic bacteria to leak into the tooth, creating a cavity under the metal filling.

These cavities are often hard to diagnosis in x-rays, the metal of the filling hides the rotting nature of the cavity.

Many silver filling (even small ones) make teeth more susceptible to needing onlay, root canal, or crown therapy. Silver fillings can also leach materials into the surrounding dental tubules inside the tooth, which can leave a permanent blue/gray halo that sometimes even bleaching can not remove.