Re: getting ready to get the mercury fillings removed/need more info!!

I predict bad things happening and lots of regret for you if you continue with your current dentist. She works for you, not the other way around. Fire her.

Stop all dental work until you learn about this stuff, and decide *before* you select a dentist what materials you want and procedure you want. Dentists are salesmen, they are businessmen, they are biased. If you go into a Chevy truck dealership, what brand and kind of automobile will they try to sell you? If your dentist doesn't place gold fillings but she has a Cerec machine to pay for, she'll tell you Cerec is best.

Forget labels. "Holistic" doen't mean squat and often just costs you more money. Many of the "holstics" out there are scams based on fear based sales tactics. What matters is what the dentist actually does and if they do what you want. But first you need to learn more to decide what you want.

Get lots of opinions. Contact a few dozen dentists and ask them to sell you on whatever materials they offer. Call a few dental labs and inquire as to what they offer or recommend. What makes sense to you?

My opinion?
*High gold* is still the best filling material. Composites last years, but gold lasts decades and can outlast you. Every time you replace a filling, you are closer to needing root canals / crowns / implants / dentures. Gold is cheaper in the long run because it lasts a very long time and it preserves your natural tooth structure which means less drilling. Which does a dentist make more money from: cheap $50 silver-mercury Amalgams or expensive $800 gold inlays? Amalgams! A quick $50 is more profitable than a high maintenance outsourced gold procedure. This is why gold is not as popular today as it was decades ago and throughout history. A seperate lab must make the gold fillings, requiring two appointments per filling. Time is money and outsourcing lab work is more work and less profitable. Same idea applies to other materials.

* By the way, most dentists chose high gold for their own teeth. I have spoken to lab techs who specialize in creating white porcelains and ceramic materials, but they choose gold for their own teeth. That says a lot to me!

** And don't focus too much on the label "metal" with regard to gold, unless you personally see reason to avoid all metals. Another abused label some dentists use is "Metal-Free". Not all metals are bad - for instance ingesting metals are essential in your diet! And nothing has a longer track record for safety than gold - humans have been using gold for teeth for thousands of years.

What makes sense to *YOU*? Figure that out first, then go out and hire a dentist to do exactly what you want! And feel good about it.




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