Do you need to replace old fillings due to lead?

My wife went to the dentist last week and they are telling her she needs to replace her fillings with new fillings because the old ones contain lead. This is not covered by our dental plan and is relatively expensive. Has anyone else heard of this, and is her health really at risk if it's not done?





weeder

Do you need to replace old fillings due to lead?
It was never lead in the fillings that was a cause of concern it was the mercury. Depending on the condition of the filling is whether or not it or they need to be replaced. If the edges of the filling are wearing and it appears that they are leaking then yes they need to be replaced. If the tooth surrounding the filling is cracking then yes replace the filling with a nice bonded composite one or crown the tooth.





Replacing the filling by drilling into the old material will release more mercury than keeping the filling, however, using modern dental techniques of rubber dams and high volume suctions this release of mercury can be minimized.
Reply:Yes, this is very common now. They don't use lead fillings anymore, and it is a good idea to replace them if you can. I have read about people with a lot of the old fillings who felt terrible, like they had chronic fatigue syndrome or something, but doctors couldn't find anything wrong. When they had the old lead based fillings replaced, they were amazed at how much better they felt in a very short period of time. They did not know they were having slow, small-scale lead poisoning. It may not be that way for everyone, and it may depend on exactly how many of the old fillings you have.