Need some good advise please!!!

[jjuk]

I was abroad 6 months ago and went to see a dentist as I had some toothache.

He said he found many cavities and I was completly oblivious to anything dental at the time so had them filled with amalgam, he done 2 to 3 on each quadrant so I had 14 new fillings. He said I would lose teeth if i didnt get this done.

It turns out this dentist has been dishonest (fined by medical council) in the past and has likely ripped me off. I never had any problems for 10+ years with my teeth apart from this toothache. I am 26 years old.

Since this has happened I have become ill with elevated mercury levels in my blood (mercury poisoning). This has become quite serious as my kidneys could be damaged too.

I need to get my fillings replaced, but I need to know what is the best long term solution?

basically all 4 teeth from the back in each quadrant are filled, larger ones on my left side, small ones on the right.

I am thinking to extract my wisdom teeth and upper and lower 2nd molars on my left side, as I hear people can chew food ok without these. that will reduce my fillings to 10 surfaces.

I dont know whether to get crowns on some of my bigger filled teeth - How long will this last and what happens when the crown fails or comes off, what % of teeth can be re-crowned after?

Honestly, If my teeth have so many problems at this young age, am I better to consider dentures? I dont like the idea of running back and forth to the dentist with huge bills.

I think I am going to regret going to this dentist for a long time..

 

[letsconnect]

Hi jjuk

what an awful story - you didn't mention which country this happened in, but do you have any legal recourse at all?

The other thing I was wondering if you have actually been diagnosed with mercury poisoning by a medical doctor? (you didn't mention). I'm asking because a lot of people have large numbers of amalgam fillings and happily live with them (though I can see how 14 in one go wouldn't be such a great idea ).

 

[jjuk]

This was done in Malta, I am not sure atm regarding legal recourse, just trying to get my mouth fixed up first of all.

I had a mercury blood test taken and the result was 12 times over the maximum limit for mercury and I have had many serious health problems since this time, so likely cause is mercury poisoning and that is what doctors are looking into. This test was taken 3 months after the amalgams were fitted.

I have alot of smaller fillings on one side of my mouth which I will probably fill with composites as im not sure ceramics would be possible for smaller fillings?

 

[letsconnect]

As far a I'm aware, the biggest release of mercury vapours occurs during placement and removal, so you might want to have another blood test and see if the levels are dropping before resorting to drastic measures. Generally speaking, exposure to mercury would be much greater from eating certain fish and shellfish compared to the amounts released from amalgam fillings when chewing (as far as I know).

 

[norwegianchick]

Hi!

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I don't know your specific situation, and I'm not a dentist, but it does sound like you were overtreated.

Where did you get your mercury testings? Some dentists, such as holistic dentists will try to convince you that your amalgam fillings are poisoning you, often using questionable methods, so that they can change them:

Quackwatch - "Holistic" and "Biological" Dentistry

Quackwatch is a very good website about health fraud and scams.

I'm not sure that this is what you wanted to hear, but I feel very strongly about this subject because I had several fillings fail this winter. It was no fun, it hurt a LOT, and got very expensive. Changing your fillings does carry the risk of irritating the nerve, and there should be a good reason to do it.

I REALLY think you should get a second opinion on the mercury levels. Maybe you have another health problem that is being ignored because of the mercury diagnosis?

Take care, and I hope you'll feel better soon!