[net.med] Mercury and Amalgam fillings

speaker@ttidca.UUCP (Kenneth Speaker) (11/23/85)

[Eat this, you modifiyer!]

Question:  Is the mercury being absorbed from the surface of the tooth or
	   through the dentin?  If only the former, would resurfacing
	   the tooth via "bonding" prevent the mercury from being absorbed?

If not, the only alternative is removal of the silver amalgam and re-filling
with another substance.  What would be the substance of choice?  

Anyone know what might be considered an acceptible number of fillings to 
have?  I have a mouth full of them courtesy of an incompetent dentist who
was filling agitation marks on the X-rays!  I had four teeth filled before
I got suspicious (I had only had 2 caries until age 30, when I moved and
lo!, I had a mouth full of them....)

--Kne