American Dental Association Calls for "Scientifically Accurate" Patient Brochure Explaining Filling Choices SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- The American Dental Association (ADA) House of Delegates called for the creation of a brochure to help patients understand the materials used to create dental fillings and the advantages and disadvantages, such as ease of placement, durability and relative costs of each type of filling. Although this information has been available to the public for years through the ADA Web site (http://www.ada.org ) and other outlets, the association wants to ensure its availability to all dentists and their patients in a consistent, comprehensive, easy-to-understand format. The ADA particularly wants patients to have accurate information about dental amalgam, a silver-colored alloy made from mercury, silver, copper and tin that dentists have used for generations to fill decayed teeth. Once the most commonly used filling material, it has been surpassed in popularity by tooth-colored composites. It nevertheless remains a safe and valued treatment option for some patients, particularly those needing large fillings in back teeth or who have special needs. Despite a wealth of scientific evidence supporting the continued availability of amalgam as a safe and effective treatment option, both the mainstream media and the Internet frequently carry confusing and incorrect information about amalgam. The ADA hopes, through production of this brochure, to provide all dentists and their patients with scientifically accurate information about dental materials to aid them in making informed treatment choices. The ADA's House of Delegates is the legislative and governing body of the 155,000-member professional dental organization, concluding its 148th annual meeting here. - - - - CONTACTS: ADA Media relations - Fred Peterson, petersonf@ada.org or Leslee Williams, williamsle@ada.org, 312-440-2806 Marie's comments: I would like to comment on one sentence in this article, "It nevertheless remains a safe and valued treatment option for some patients, particularly those needing large fillings in back teeth or who have special needs." In my community one group with special needs are the retarded who get mercury fillings when they go to the Medicaid clinic. I think retarded children and adults have enough problems without exposing them to a neurotoxin that could play havoc with their health in the future. And for people who need LARGE fillings in the back---the larger the filling, the more mercury is in the filling, leading to more severe health problems and exposure to more mercury vapor. I have seen people like my sister who has "cow pile" looking sized amalgam fillings in her back teeth. You can't see her back teeth for the mercury fillings plopped down on her teeth. So the ADA wants one more patient brochure telling the same old lies of how safe mercury is in your mouth. But don't forget it is a hazardous waste product once the filling is extracted from your teeth. The ADA doesn't lie so well any more. Their "logic" doesn't make sense to sane people. Back to the top Back to Mercury Poisoned main page