Are your metal fillings poisoning your health?  If “attention grabbing” is illegal, that question gets us indicted.  Our defense?  We are guilty of sometimes being too passionate about dental health, in this case encouraging you to pause and consider the condition of those hardworking back teeth.

To our knowledge, no scientific evidence exits anywhere that shows any direct link between metal fillings and poor health.  So why do we never put amalgam into clients’ teeth, and candidly espouse its removal?  Because the non-metallic alternatives are significantly kinder to those teeth.  Clients tell us their mouth looks and feels healthier, too, once their metal fillings have been replaced with tooth-colored restorations.

Our records show that we stopped placing dental amalgam in 1997.  Since 1995, we have placed over 8,000 bonded, composite fillings in back teeth.  Of those 8,000, about twenty teeth required replacement at our cost due to temperature and/or bite sensitivity not present prior to treatment.  Before 1997, we regularly made excuses for the cold sensitivity associated with metal fillings.  The only excuse we make for our tooth-colored fillings is that replacing lost tooth structure on occasion requires more than what a filling can accomplish, at which point a cap is necessary to protect and strengthen the remaining tooth structure.  Due to the bonding effect of the non-metallic restorative techniques and our extensive experience with them, we probably recommend fewer caps than offices that continue to place metal fillings in back teeth.

All 'fillings' placed in our practice since 1997 have been metal-free, tooth-colored restorations.

"CAPS" VS. "FILLINGS" PROTOCOL
Sometimes, remaining tooth structure is inadequate to support another filling and a tooth requires the protection of a crown (or "cap") to keep from breaking apart.

Back teeth in the following situations should be protected with lab-processed crowns or partial crowns in place of common fillings:

•	Three-sided filling at narrowest point is more than 1/3 of tooth width
•	Average-size three-sided filling with cusp missing, cusp undermined by decay, erosion, or restoration
•	Average-size three-sided filling with significant grinding or clenching habit
•	Average-size three-sided filling with fracture experience in other teeth
•	Average-size three-sided filling functioning for other missing teeth
•	Any three-sided filling with obvious multiple fractures
•	Two-sided filling at narrowest point is more than ½ of tooth width
•	Average-size two-sided filling with cusp missing, or cusp undermined by decay, erosion, or restoration
•	Average-size two-sided filling with obvious multiple fractures
•	Large single surface restoration with obvious multiple fractures
•	Any size restoration with diagnosis of fractured tooth syndrome (tooth is alive, cusp is sensitive to occlusal force, and no other cause is identified)

STRONG TEETH VS. WEAK TEETH
If your back teeth are going to last your lifetime, they must withstand the rigors of chewing, clenching, and grinding for seventy-plus years. When back teeth break, anything is possible…most of it not good.

METAL FILLINGS VS. TOOTH-COLORED, RESIN RESTORATIONS
Metal fillings sit in a hole, expanding-contracting-corroding as they age. Tooth-colored, resin restorations seal up the hole by bonding to the tooth, thereby strengthening the tooth.