At Hello Dental Colchester we have moved with the times, we do not use metal-based mercury fillings. We are mercury-free dentists and here’s why:
As mercury-free dentists, we see metal fillings cause more harm than good and they may have been the best that was available 20+ years ago. Nowadays, some replacements are not only better in appearance, but healthier for the tooth and your body.
We prefer not to do the old-fashioned “telling off” that so many people have experienced. Apart from not being very nice, we know it just does not work for most people, and even less for anxious patients and those scared of the dentist. We try very hard not to judge and cause our patients embarrassment.
Metal-based mercury fillings can crack teeth
When you eat or drink hot or cold things the metal filling expands and contracts much faster than the tooth around it… this leads to many cracks over time these meet up and cause teeth to break. If you are lucky, only a small piece of tooth will break, but if one small piece has broken then it can be certain more cracks need to be stopped from getting worse. Many times the tooth will crack so badly that it cannot be restored and has to be extracted.
Some people talk about how long their metal fillings have lasted. The reality is just because the metal fillings are in the tooth and the tooth isn’t hurting does not mean they are not causing damage to the teeth because teeth are very resilient they will take a great deal of damage before causing even sensitivity.
We don’t expect you to take our word for it, we take photos of the teeth before and during to show you the damage (if you want to see it!) and after the removal of the metal fillings, you can see the true extent of the damage yourself.
In some cases, the crack is so severe that we use our lasers combined with modern adhesives to disinfect and seal the crack and then stabilise the tooth with a crown.
Additionally, health concerns have been raised about the impact of the mercury which is released from the fillings into your body. While the jury is out on the level of impact that this has on our bodies, it does not make sense to use a potential toxin when alternatives are available. White fillings are superior aesthetically, mechanically and from a health perspective.
If you would like more information on why we are mercury-free dentists in Colchester, please contact us.
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