Amalgam Fillings Are Perfectly Safe.

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1998--Public health agencies and scientific data have confirmed that amalgam fillings, also known as silver fillings, pose no health risk to patients, Dr. Jerold W. Miller, president of the Philadelphia County Dental Society, declared.

While a "miniscule group may be allergic to some of the elements in silver fillings," no filling material has been proven superior to amalgam in safety, durability and cost-effectiveness, Miller stated.

Anti-amalgam groups, which make "outrageous claims" about silver fillings, have no scientific basis for such charges, the Dental Society president said.

"These are old wives' tales," he added, "that have been disproved time and again over the last 150 years, during which this filling has been used continuously, safely and effectively."

The use of amalgam, which contains metals such as silver, copper and tin, as well as some small amounts of mercury to chemically bind the components, has been declared completely safe and economically feasible by the National Institutes of Health, the FDI World Dental Federation, the World Health Organization, Consumer Reports, and the American Dental Association's (ADA) Council on Scientific Affairs, among others.

Miller said that more than 99% of the general population should have no allergic response to amalgam fillings, and, to date, "fewer than 100 cases have been reported in the dental literature."

"No scientific cause and effect has been established between removal of amalgams and recovery from multiple sclerosis or arthritis or Alzheimer's disease," he added. "The public should not be confused or intimidated into removing silver fillings based on these allegations."

Patients' requests for tooth-colored fillings have led to ongoing efforts to satisfy the public's ever-increasing concerns about esthetics. Scientists at the ADA Health Foundation continue to work with government researchers to develop a mercury-free, tooth-colored filling that will be as effective as the current silver fillings.

Consumers can find information about dental amalgam, or silver fillings, on ADA ONLINE, the ADA's site on the World Wide Web, at http://www.ada.org.