Must dentists legally disclose the filling material they use for cavities?!
Question:
Must dentists legally disclose the filling material they use for cavities?
My wife just got two fillings for some cavities she had. We assumed the dentist would use amalgam, but when she was finished we saw that he had used a composite material which has a drastically shorter lifetime. The dentist said nothing about it, and we feel a little cheated and are wondering what to do. (We live in California.)
Answers:
Unfortunately, dentists just take it upon themselves to dictate they type of materials they use for a tooth and rarely give the patient the choice. While composite restorations are in great use and the newer ones do wear extremely well, amalgam restorations [especially if they are bonded in], in great number of dentists' estimations, are superior on posterior teeth. I have yet to see a composite restoration last 30 years while many many amalgams are still functioning well long after that. All of the hoopla about the mercury in them is
a non event as the composite materials have also been showen to mimic hormones and cause problems. If you give a person enough water, that will kill them too so you see, it's all in the testing. Good luck in getting your doctor to change these and you may have to find a new one as some dentists only do composites.