# Are silver fillings bad?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 19, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767 "2000-09-19T19:08:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/1 "2000-09-19T19:08:44Z")
My parents have always been adamant about not putting silver fillings in my teeth. For this reason I’ve always had white fillings. But white fillings don’t last that long. I now have to get all my white fillings replaced and I’m wondering if I should go ahead with the silver or stick to white.
So what are the facts? Is silver bad in any way? uncomfortable? advantages/disadvantages?
---
### Author:  [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/2 "2000-09-19T19:16:19Z")
The major reason people think silver-mercury amalgam fillings are bad is because of the mercury, and the common myths about the harmfulness of mercury.
Mercury, in its native state, is basically harmless. Mercury in an alloy, which is what’s in amalgam fillings, is even more harmless, because it’s harder to get it out of solution.
Mercury is harmful: 1) as a vapor, or 2) as a compound (especially the oxide (cinnabar) or the chloride. Mercuric chloride is one of the most poisonous substances known). But native mercury will pass through you with few ill effects.
The only problem with mercury amalgam fillings comes in heating them. You will note that if your dentist has to dig out a mercury amalgam filling with a drill, the area will be continuously cooled with water. Heating the alloy would allow mercury vapor to escape.
I’ve never heard of anyone being harmed by mercury/silver amalgam fillings. Ever. They’re consistently the strongest (until we finally have synthetic dentin and enamel about twenty years from now).
Get the mercury fillings.
LL
---
### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/3 "2000-09-19T20:31:54Z")
Silver-mercury amalgam fillings can react with other metal in your mouth and create an electric current which can cause a perceived “shock” to the nerves in your teeth. Foil wrapped baked potato with bits of foil in the potato, “ouch!”
Where appearance is not an issue, go with the silver-mercury amalgam.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/4 "2000-09-19T20:39:16Z")
So THAT’s why it hurt to chew a Klondike wrapper when I was a kid…
So just don’t chew it.
---
### Author:  [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/5 "2000-09-19T20:50:42Z")
Having to get all your fillings replaced? egad. That sounds like reason enough to get silver fillings that last longer. :eek:
As said, the concern is the mercury. I’ll agree with LL42 about mercury being tough to get out of the filling…but I’m not so sure about the statement that mercury in its native state being basically harmless.
Here’s the MSDS on mercury (this is worst case, of course, and not meant to cause alarm)
> [@](#):
>
> ## Potential Health Effects
>
> Inhalation:
> Mercury vapor is highly toxic via this route. Causes severe respiratory tract damage. Symptoms include sore throat, coughing, pain, tightness in chest, breathing difficulties, shortness of breath, headache, muscle weakness, anorexia, gastrointestinal disturbance, ringing in the ear, liver changes, fever, bronchitis and pneumonitis. Can be absorbed through inhalation with symptoms similar to ingestion.
>
> Ingestion:
> May cause burning of the mouth and pharynx, abdominal pain, vomiting, corrosive ulceration, bloody diarrhea. May be followed by a rapid and weak pulse, shallow breathing, paleness, exhaustion, tremors and collapse. Delayed death may occur from renal failure. Gastrointenstinal uptake of mercury is less than 5% but its ability to penetrate tissues presents some hazard. Initial symptoms may be thirst, possible abdominal discomfort.
>
> Skin Contact:
> Causes irritaton and burns to skin. Symptoms include redness and pain. May cause skin allergy and sensitization. Can be absorbed through the skin with symptoms to parallel ingestion.
>
> Eye Contact:
> Causes irritation and burns to eyes. Symptoms include redness, pain, blurred vision; may cause serious and permanent eye damage.
>
> Chronic Exposure:
> Chronic exposure through any route can produce central nervous system damage. May cause muscle tremors, personality and behavior changes, memory loss, metallic taste, loosening of the teeth, digestive disorders, skin rashes, brain damage and kidney damage. Can cause skin allergies and accumulate in the body. Repeated skin contact can cause the skin to turn gray in color. A suspected reproductive hazard; may damage the developing fetus and decrease fertility in males and females.
>
> Aggravation of Pre-existing Conditions:
> Persons with nervous disorders, or impaired kidney or respiratory function, or a history of allergies or a known sensitization to mercury may be more susceptible to the effects of the substance.
You’ll see that the ingestion route states that the uptake is low, but there is potentially some hazard.
The main concern is chronic (long-term) exposure (such as having it sit in your mouth in a filling for the rest of your life).
In the past, I’ve checked around on the web about this and basically found that the risk of mercury in fillings in not really known except to say that millions of people get these fillings without any apparent ill-effects. So, on that evidence, you may feel better about getting the silver fillings.
---
### Author:  [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/6 "2000-09-19T21:09:54Z")
I **hate** Material Safety Data Sheets.
Care to guess what the following substance is?
Route Of Entry - Inhalation: YES
Route Of Entry - Skin: YES
Route Of Entry - Ingestion: YES
Health Haz Acute And Chronic: ACUTE: MAY BE HARMFUL BY INHALATION,
INGESTION, OR SKIN ABSORPTION. CAUSES EYE OR SKIN IRRITATION. MATERIAL IS
IRRITATING TO MUCOUS MEMBRANES AND UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT.
Carcinogenicity - NTP: NO
Carcinogenicity - IARC: NO
Carcinogenicity - OSHA: NO
Explanation Carcinogenicity: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
Signs/Symptoms Of Overexp: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
Med Cond Aggravated By Exp: NONE SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURER.
Emergency/First Aid Proc: EYES: IMMEDIATELY FLUSH WITH COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF
WATER FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES. SKIN: IMMEDIATELY WASH WITH SOAP AND COPIOUS
AMOUNTS OF WATER. INHAL: REMOVE TO FRESH AIR. IF NOT BREATHING, GIVE
ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION. IF BREATHING IS DIFFICULT, GIVE OXYGEN. CALL MD.
INGEST: CALL MD IMMEDIATELY (FP N).
This hazardous, irritating material for which, according to the MSDS, you should “Call MD immediately” if ingested, is…
Sodium chloride. Also known as table salt.
_sigh_
As to mercury… yes, mercury can be absorbed in small quantity via ingestion. Yes, chronic absorption of this type will cause problems. No, there’s not enough mercury even in a mouthful of fillings to cause these problems, I’m pretty sure, and if even one ten-thousandth of the mercury in fillings dissolved into the GI tract over the course of a lifetime, I’d be highly surprised.
So: don’t break a mercury thermometer and drink it, but don’t worry about fillings.
(And, if you want to follow OSHA regulations, call your doctor the next time you put salt on your food :D)
---
### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2000, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/7 "2000-09-19T23:24:48Z")
**Cecil Adams** on [Are you being poisoned by your silver tooth fillings?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_428.html)
---
### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/8 "2000-09-20T00:39:26Z")
Well, I have read several reports that all seem to say “yes it leaches, no we don’t know if it hurts or not”. While I have all silver on the right side of my mouth, I ma getting all ceramic/composite/whatever white fillings on the left side.
I have noticed two benefits of the non-silver fillings:
1. MUCH less sensitivity to hot or cold than the silver.
2. They look like…teeth. It’s very hard for me to spot them, even when I know which teeth they are in.
The drawbacks, or course, are:
1. Higher cost.
2. Reported need for more frequent replacement, although dentists nowadays claim that problem has been fixed…I’ll see, I guess.
---
### Author:  [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/9 "2000-09-20T02:56:44Z")
Heh… thanks for the link, Manny. I find that dissenting letter extremely interesting… mainly for the fact that heavy metal poisoning is pretty much always a chronic condition. Once you have the heavy metal in your system, it’s there for good. You don’t suddenly become non-senile upon removal of the fillings; ask your average person who was lead-poisoned as a child.
But Cecil’s right, the world _is_ apparently full of blithering idiots.
LL
---
### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/10 "2000-09-20T03:49:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Anthracite \*
> **…I ma getting all ceramic/composite/whatever…**
Oops - excuse the brief trip to hillbilly land. It should read “I am getting”… 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/11 "2000-09-20T21:34:21Z")
[QUOTE]
\*Originally posted by Anthracite \*
\*\*
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* I have all silver on the right side of my mouth
> **…I ma getting all ceramic/composite/whatever…**
Well, maybe you… nope, it’s just too easy.
Anyway, thanks for all the input. I’m still more/less undecided but I may end up being guilted into white fillings. My mom has repeatedly reminded me how much my parents spent getting all my silver removed for white when I was young. Sometimes it’s better just to keep the peace and bite the bullet (provided the bullet doesn’t contain any Mercury).
---
### Author:  [@jamesglewisf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamesglewisf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/12 "2000-09-20T22:12:40Z")
Boy, I needed to see this.
I have a friend who lives off conspiracy theories, and this is one of the ones he thew at me: “Dentists continue to use mercury in fillings even though they’ve know for years how dangerous it is.”
I should have just asked my uncle. He’s a dentist. Instead I just ignored the guy.
---
### Author:  [@jamesglewisf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamesglewisf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/13 "2000-09-20T22:19:57Z")
“threw at me” not “thew at me”
I hate the fact that you can’t edit your posts on this forum. For those of us who can’t type, it sure is a annoying.
---
### Author:  [@jamesglewisf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamesglewisf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2000, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/14 "2000-09-20T22:33:19Z")
duh. Did it again.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-silver-fillings-bad/33767/15 "2000-09-21T03:27:19Z")
For the record, **jamesglewisf** , I didn’t notice your typo until after you corrected it. I’ve seen cases where even after a person posted a correction, I still couldn’t find the original mistake. Don’t sweat it, or if you’re really anal about it, proofread and preview.