From the resident dentist....

The switch to capsules containing the alloy of metals and mercury many years ago, has practically eliminated the problem of mercury retention in the office. I'm sure that in the old days, handling of the mercury and alloy mixtures by dentists and assistants, caused some problems. Today, we do very few amalgams, not necessarily due to patient concerns about the mercury, but because people want invisible, white fillings.

As far as all ceramic crowns are concerned, when possible, we are now fabricating all porcelain crowns through CAD-CAM technology, right in the office. They promise to be as strong and as long lasting as pocelain fused to metal crowns. I am now in my third year of doing this and have a great deal of success with them.

Getting back to the topic at hand, amalgam fillings have been blamed for all sorts of medical problems for as long as I have been in practice and many years before. As far as I know, there has never been a study to show any link between amalgams and any diseases.

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry, for the encouraging news about porcelain crowns. I will have to have Dick ask his dentist about the construction of his new crowns. No wonder you are the "man of my dreams"....lol. Thanks again. JaneP.

I have 2 of those new fangled CAD-CAM ceramic crowns as well. It's about a 2 hour process from impressions, reduction, scanning, software tweaking, manufacturing, crown tweaking and bonding. Out here in the west they are about 1 grand each (my insurance pays for half).

My mom also suffered from the same symptoms as you luekeplakia or whatever they refered to it as for 10 years prior to her cancer diagnosis. She had some surgeries laser etc...they gave her a medication acutane which is a medication used to control acne and nothing ever cured her tongue sores. So bascially when my mom was diagnosed she passed out in the doctors office when they said it was cancer. Most times it was just pre-cancerous and something to watch. She did have a really bad tooth and crown right in the same area and that tooth has since been extracted. She has been cancer free for almost 4 years!!!

Hi, I'm new here, and just received a Dx of SCC 3 days ago. In the interest of not duplicating the whole thing, I'd refer you to the post I made an hour or so ago -#90328. Under the group - Introduce Yourself, or something like that. Only, I did forget one major factor in that post - that of the oral lichen planus diagnosis for about 10 years. I had allergy testing in 5/08, and tested very allergic to nickel, mercury, and cobalt. The most sore spot, which is the one which turned cancerous, rests right beside the metal base of a crown in the back. The dental student who is replacing the metal in my mouth made me a set of plastic teeth covers for now, which cuts the ammount of time that the tongue is in contact with the metal. The plastic is also very smooth, which cuts down on the friction of sore tongue against bare teeth. ??

I found this board last night when I couldn't sleep, and must say that the above posts motivated me to join. Thanks so much for running this board, and for asking the questions, and sharing the answers!

Linda Rose