November 23, 2009
After taking out the old fillings, do dentists leave the pieces in your mouth?
Katie asked:
Hi, I just got my silver fillings replaced with tooth colored ones. While I rinsed my mouth out at the end, I saw little black pieces in the water. Were these the old fillings? How do dentists get rid of the old fillings? Was I swallowing the silver/mercury?
Alpharetta Dentists
Hi, I just got my silver fillings replaced with tooth colored ones. While I rinsed my mouth out at the end, I saw little black pieces in the water. Were these the old fillings? How do dentists get rid of the old fillings? Was I swallowing the silver/mercury?
Alpharetta Dentists
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Comments on After taking out the old fillings, do dentists leave the pieces in your mouth?
5:07 pm
Alpharetta Dentists
when they remove a filling they drill it out. some time you can get little pieces left over that the didn't rinse out ..normal..no problem You could also have small pieces of new filling when they put it in and carve it to fit your bite some can be left behind..that's probably what you saw.. as for the mercury, all fillings called amalgams have that in them. it is used to mix the powder so that the filling turns hard…very small amount ..not to worry
6:46 am
Alpharetta Dentists
first off, you should've gone with another amalgam versus getting it replaced with a composite (white filling). amalgam fillings last longer, and i've seen a lot of composites that just never completely kept out decay and have lead to root canals. but a small amount of the metals in a silver filling wont hurt you, next time you visit your dentist ask him to us a rubber dam, it's a piece of material that is a little uncomfortable but it keeps everything out of your mouth.