The Problem with Mercury Fillings
People want to keep their teeth for a lifetime. We have found that one of the major reasons teeth are lost is that they break because they have been weakened by decay and drilling. Each time a mercury filling is replaced, the new filling is larger and more of your tooth is cut away. Many surveys show that the average life of mercury filings is 9 years, so you can expect a filled tooth to be refilled several times, with the replacement filling larger than the previous one. For very small areas of decay we now use micro air abrasion system with tooth colored bonded fillings. For larger areas that need to be rebuilt and strengthened we can use full coverage crowns or bonded onlays to restore the damaged teeth. These two options are much stronger and last longer than large bonded fillings.