Earlier this month in an unprecedented U-turn the US Government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dropped much of its reassuring language on amalgam fillings from its website. It now states that “dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous system of developing children and foetuses” (Source: Independent on Sunday, June 2008)

Mercury is placed in tens of millions of teeth worldwide each year, and the British Dental Association (BDA) insists that it is “safe, durable and cost effective and does not pose a threat to systemic disease”.

It is important to realise that any arguably negative effects of these fillings have not been proven. In Canary Wharf there are thousands of Americans who regard US FDA rulings as gold standards and, at Waterside Dental Health, we certainly take these views very seriously. All of our clinicians are happy to address any concerns our patients have on this matter. We also have the benefit of a number of alternatives including CEREC inlays, a state of the art technology.

Even the BDA now says that the alternatives “have improved over time” adding: “Trends towards greater use of these materials imply that there is to be a sustained reduction in the use of dental amalgam”