If you are considering having your amalgam fillings removed, it’s important to make sure that you have them removed in a safe manner. This protects you, other dental patients, and the environment from the hazards of mercury exposure. Although most dentists will offer to remove your mercury amalgam fillings, few will do it safely.
Rochester, NY holistic dentist Dr. Arlene Messer is a member of the International Association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT), and she follows their science-based guidelines for the Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART). To schedule the safe removal of your mercury amalgam fillings at Contemporary Dentistry, please call (585) 244-3337 today.
Why Safe Amalgam Removal Matters
If you are going to remove your metal amalgam fillings, it’s important to make sure it’s done safely. Otherwise, you are just trading a long, slow exposure to mercury for a potentially much more toxic acute amalgam exposure.
When metal amalgam fillings are being removed, more of the mercury can be released as vapor and some of the filling may break off as fine particles that can be ingested or inhaled. Mercury vapor that isn’t inhaled by you can enter the air and potentially be inhaled by others.
And if mercury isn’t properly handled during removal, it can enter the water supply. In the past, metal amalgam was a major source of mercury in rivers and lakes.
How SMART Works
There are many important steps in the SMART process.
Environmental Safeguards
Equipment should be installed to reduce contamination in the dental office and the environment. An amalgam separator is used to prevent the spread of mercury via the water lines. Every room where mercury is removed has a high-volume air filtration system to capture particles from the air. A Dental Air Vac is positioned near your face to further capture vapors and particles.
Protecting You
Before filling removal, you should rinse with or swallow an adsorbent like charcoal or chlorella to help capture mercury in your mouth or digestive tract.
A dental dam is used to protect you from mercury particles. A body and facial drape will be used to cover you from the knee to the top of your head, with as little exposed surface as possible during amalgam removal.
Saliva ejectors and vacuum apparatuses are used to remove the mercury from your mouth. Water is used to cool the filling so that less mercury evaporates.
The filling is removed in as few large pieces as possible to reduce the evaporation of mercury.
For even more protection from mercury vapors, we offer oxygen nasal mask at an additional fee, which allows you to breathe oxygen during the removal process.
Metal Amalgam Removal Done Right
If you want to remove your metal amalgam fillings, it’s important to make sure that it’s done as safely as possible for you, others around you, and the environment. We always follow best practices to make sure that the removal of your metal amalgam is done right.
To learn more about the safe removal of metal amalgam fillings in Rochester, NY, please call (585) 244-3337 today for an appointment at Contemporary Dentistry.
