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

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

Thank you for your reply Bryanna!

I've had this dentist remove other teeth with mercury and I think she basically follows this protocal.

I am glad to know that this is what I need to do and don't have to worry about more extractions, at this time.

One question: do you know what the black spot on my gum near the teeth could be? It doesn't hurt when I press on it, but I just can't imagine what it could be.

Thanks again for your sharing your knowledge!
Gretchen

Hi Gretchen,

Sometimes a small, non painful, black or purplish spot on the gum near a tooth is either a nevus (a benign overgrowth of cells like a birthmark) or it could be a mercury tattoo. These tattoos are the result of a piece of mercury getting in underneath the gum tissue during the placement or removal of a mercury filling. Because the mercury gets so embedded in the fibers of the gum tissue, it can be impossible to remove all of it without removing a piece of the gum as well.

Also.... sometimes when a tooth has decay near the gum line... the decay can actually travel down the root of the tooth, below the gum. This will appear as a black or dark area on the gum line or lower into the gum.

Hopefully your dentist routinely follows the mercury removal protocol. The dental offices that practice this way on a daily basis will have cleaner air which means the toxins in the air will be lessened for ALL of the patients and staff to breath every day!

Hope this helps!!

Bryanna

Glad to hear what the protocal is involving removing old fillings. No dentist I have had that replaced old fillings did this. Not one. Old fillings and composites have been replaced, and now I wonder if this had done additional damage to my immune system. I had crowns put on a number of the teeth. I still can't believe that I never was protected in this way. Thank you for the information, though I cringe to hear it. ginnie

Bryanna, Thanks for the explanation of the black spot! That doesn't sound too harmful, now I won't worry about it.

I will admit that my dentist follows some of the mercury removal protocol, but not all of it. She doesn't give me oxygen to breathe, that's for sure.

I'm getting a permanent crown on Wednesday and may ask her about the precautions she uses for mercury removal.

I know she'll ask me why I didn't get a reroot treatment on tooth number 3, she's all about "saving the tooth". I tried to tell her that I didn't want to have an active infection going on in my body. She said that my bite will be off with the tooth gone and seemed very upset about that. What????

I'll keep in touch! Gretchen

Hi Gretchen,

Dentists are taught to "retain" teeth in most circumstances. After all, the more times they fill a tooth... root canal it... and crown it, the more revenue! They only have a brief education on the systemic risks of oral health and they associate infection with periodontal disease, rarely chronically infected teeth. But due to abundance of public information now available on the internet, the old mindset of "retaining sick teeth" is going to be questioned more and more by the patient!

I just want to warn you about something that you mentioned.....
If your dentist is pro root canal and she is more disturbed about your bite being off than she is about retaining an infected tooth.... she may be a bit careless when preparing your teeth for crowns. What I mean by that is if she has a nonchalant attitude regarding root canals, then she isn't going to be too concerned about over prepping the tooth, because she will just root canal it if she goes too far. Therefore, it is imperative to make your concerns very clear to her, that you do not want any more root canals. It doesn't matter what she personally feels about that.... it is your mouth and you make the final decision.

Hopefully everything will go okay and you won't have to be concerned about dealing with any of that!

Keep us posted!
Bryanna

Hi Bryanna,

She was definitely more concerned about retaining my bite than the infected tooth! In fact, when I told her I was worried about the infection spreading from my sinuses into my brain, she said she's never seen that happen in her 20 years of practice.

My thought, if it's only happened to ONE person, that's too much for me!

Anway, I'm not sure if she's the one I want performing the work for my last two crowns. I just wish I had more of a choice where I live, which is a small town.

I don't even know where to begin to find a good dentist! I've switched several times already because of bad experiences. Any suggestions?

Have a good day and thanks again! Gretchen

The infection is more important to deal with than the bite. If you don't correct the infection, no bite, the tooth is lost for sure. I guess thats how I would deal with it. I am starting to question all proceedures before I sit in the chair. I wish you all the best. No RC's for me. ginnie

Ginnie, I agree, who wants to have an infected tooth! The bite should always be able to be corrected, in my opinion.

I never want another root canal either. That's why I need these 2 teeth to be prepped without "going too far".

I've become quite suspicious of dentists in general in the last 6 years because of bad experiences, including endodontists.

My current dentist is a very religious woman, even has Christian music playing throughout the office. I like her and she has done good work, except one time, when she gave me an inlay instead of a whole crown. It came off, about a year and a half later, and had to be replaced. She made good on that.

I'll see how she reacts Wednesday when I go in for the permanent crown, and I bring up the mercury removal protocol and tell her how I feel about getting anymore root canals!

Gretchen