Opting for an Amalgam Filling in London SE1

Opting for an Amalgam Filling in London SE1

18 / 05 / 2012

If ever you had a filling when you were young, the chances are you would have had an amalgam filling. Now these have been hanging around London SE1 for donkey’s years and were one of the first forms of fillings ever designed- that was because they were easy and cheap to make and to prove how good they are, variants are still being used today- or are they that good? They do have incredible longevity compared to their opposition and can withstand a lot of forces going through them but there are rumbling to phase them out altogether, in fact, in some Scandinavian countries they are banned and that is because among the metals used in amalgam, one of them is the highly toxic mercury and it can start to alter for the worst as it ages. Another reason why they are becoming a little more unpopular is fashion; cosmetic dentistry is huge right now with the emphasis of looking the best you can which means out with the dull grey amalgams and in with the white, natural looking composite based fillings or resin ones- some prefer gold. Other than gold though, these fillings are weak and fragile compared to composite and resin, they are also advised against at the back of the mouth where there is a lot of chewing and biting- they also tend to shrink as well. People like to scaremonger and throw away the good things history has given us in a whim; no-one has died from having an amalgam filling and probably no-one ever will. If you have doubts however, you should talk to your dentist about the issues that surround amalgam.