Silver dental fillings are only 30% silver and 50% mercury. Small amounts of mercury vapour are released all the time and increases with chewing or drinking hot foods and beverages. Mercury is also released by the natural process of corrosion and the ageing of the filling. The limited number of published scientific research experiments on amalgam biocompatibility have all strongly suggested that mercury and even the amalgam itself pose potential health problems of sufficient risk to warrant further extensive research.
According to the American Dental Association, up to 76% of dentists use silver fillings containing mercury when filling a tooth.
2. A removed filling has to be disposed of it properly, through a licensed facility that handles mercury waste. This is the very material that just came out of a person's mouth.
3. There are numerous options to silver fillings, including tooth-colored resin, porcelain, and gold fillings -- all of which are considerably more expensive.
2. There is no health reason not to use silver fillings, unless a patient has an allergy to a component in the amalgam. Fewer than 100 incidents of such allergy have ever been reported. (American Dental Association).
3. Once the filling is placed in the tooth, a person's exposure to mercury vapours is minimal.
4. Some dentists say colleagues who encourage patients to have silver fillings removed and replaced with the more expensive fillings are just making money off the controversy.