Mercury poisoning is the main worry.
Florida’s Surgeon General is seeking to take a bite out of a widely used type of tooth filling deemed a “safe, affordable and durable restorative material” by the American Dental Association.
While Dr. Joseph Ladapo isn’t pushing for a ban on dental amalgams in the state, he nonetheless urges dentists and patients to explore “all available measures to avoid the use of amalgam for future fillings,” including “composites, glass ionomer, stainless steel crowns, and permanent crowns.”
Consistent with guidance from the Food and Drug Administration, people with amalgam fillings aren’t encouraged to remove them, as the greatest risk from the compound is during installation or removal. Nonetheless, these fillings exacerbate the risk of mercury exposure, with health consequences that can go from mothers to children through breast milk and the placenta.
Ladapo’s declaration wades into a controversy that has pitted governments around the world with concerns over a dental industry that defends amalgams.
The European Union has already banned dental amalgams as of the beginning of this year to “establish a mercury-free Europe to protect EU citizens and the environment from toxic mercury.” That extended a ban on the material for children under 15 that already existed.
Exceptions can be made if the practitioner says it’s “medically necessary” to use amalgams. Further temporary opt-outs are permitted on a country-by-country basis through June of next year to “avoid negative repercussions for low-income individuals that would otherwise be socio-economically disproportionally affected by the phase-out.”
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