Hi Gretchen,
Glad to hear that the site of #3 is doing well!!
Two important things to know before having this other dental work done...
1) When removing mercury fillings it is imperative that the dentist use the proper removal protocol to minimize your exposure to the mercury. Not all dentists take these precautions because they are lazy.... however without any question these steps are necessary.
This is the protocol used only during the actual removal of the mercury fillings, not during the placement of new composite fillings or crowns...
a) Use of a rubber damn to isolate the tooth/teeth during the removal...
b) You should be breathing oxygen via a canula during the removal....
c) The assistant should have her high speed suction directly over the area of mercury being removed...
d) The assistant should rinse your mouth with copious amounts of water after the removal which should be vacuumed up with the suction and never swallowed....
e) There is usually an air vac system (looks like an elephant ear coming out of a large hose connected to a box on the floor and sounds like a vacuum cleaner) that is placed in front of the patient that pulls the mercury vapors towards it and into the filtering system during the removal.
f) Most dentists will wear special protective masks, similar to gas masks.
2) Many times there is little tooth structure left after the fillings and decay are removed and the only way to restore them is to place crowns on them. If the teeth are healthy and the fillings and decay are not deep or near the pulp.... then the tooth should be fine after the crowns are placed providing they fit well. If the decay is deep or there is concern about exposing the pulp during the preparation, then the risk of injury to the nerve is elevated. Once the pulp is exposed or the nerve is injured the only options are to extract or do root canal. If you chose to extract a tooth that is in this condition rather than root canal it, the bone is still healthy which means that sometimes an implant can be placed at the same time as the extraction... or a few months there after and the success rate of that implant is excellent.
Does that information help a bit?? I hope so!
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by gdmcor
I hope you read this Bryanna!
Tooth #3 extraction site is now 3 weeks old and healing well. Now I have a couple of other tooth concerns and questions, please. 
My upper last two teeth on the left side have old mercury fillings with decay and cracks in them. I don't really have any pain, but I did notice that I have a black spot on the gum, near the teeth - the under side. (I have one of those little mirrors for teeth).
My dentist wants to drill out the decay and old fillings and put crowns on them.
My question is, with all the decay and cracks, is this the best solution to the problem? Is this just a temporary solution to the inevitable extraction of these teeth? I don't want anymore root canals.
The two teeth look normal in the front, but the bottoms and under sides of them are very black from the mercury and decay. I don't see how she can even save much of the actual teeth once they are drilled.
Your opinion is very valuable to me. Do you think I should get the crowns or go ahead with extraction?
Thanks as always, Gretchen |