Conditions - Mercury Amalgam Under Crowns and Bridges

Mercury Amalgam Under Crowns and Bridges

A common practice by many dentists, even today, is to place a large mercury filling as a core under crowns and bridges. Even worse, they may leave an old existing mercury filling in the tooth and just cover it with a crown or bridge. Previous written records, or x-rays, MAY be helpful to determine whether mercury fillings are under your crowns, although Dr. Evans, Dr. Nordin-Evans and Dr. Carney have all found mercury under existing crowns or bridges, that the previous dentist had not documented. If it is an old crown and you had many large mercury fillings prior to the crown placement, the chances are very good that a mercury core filling still remains under your crown.

Even though a crown maybe "sealing" the tooth from the mouth and the mercury filling is therefore hidden from view, the mercury is not sealed from leaking into the rest of your body. The mercury travels through your tooth into the pulp (nerves and blood vessels), and into the jawbone, where it is taken up by nerve tissue and enters the bloodstream where it can then be deposited throughout the body's tissues and organs.

Because it is not always possible to know with certainty the presence or absence of mercury under a crown or bridge, additional diagnostic information may be obtained from an Electrodermal Screening (EDS). This evaluation of the metal restorations can help to determine what metals may have been used in the fabrication of the crown or bridge and if they are negatively impacting the patient. This test will give us the best idea of the toxic metals that are present, but cannot be relied upon as being 100% conclusive. At this time, we have NO conclusive test, other than removal of the crown or bridge and visual inspection, to determine if there is any mercury filling under the crown. We therefore rely upon the history given by the patient, past clinical notes, radiographs, a clinical examination, and possibly EDS to help us determine if mercury is present.

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