27 Feb

Amalgam fillings in London

Are you worried about your kids’ health risk from amalgam fillings? Then, stop worrying and relax!!! Children are not adversely affected by the amalgam fillings, according to a recent trial, the New England Children’s Amalgam Trial that compared the neuro physical outcomes of children whose caries were filled with amalgam with those who had composite resin filling, which is free of mercury compounds. This study was conducted on 534 children aged between 6 and 10. They did psychological tests including full-scale IQ score on Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Third edition, wide range assessment of memory and learning, wide range assessment of visual motor abilities etc. The researchers evaluated the association between primary and secondary outcomes and potential exposure, surface years of amalgam, and urinary mercury excretion (U-Hg), which is the biomarker used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings (restorations). The researchers couldn’t find any association or any neuropsychological adverse effects with amalgam fillings over the five-year trial period and no change or increase in the risk of children developing neuropsychological dysfunctions.  And in another related study conducted by a team of researchers from Universities of Portugal, Lisbon, and Washington also got similar results bringing a sigh of relief to parents and dentists of UK and US who were reluctant to have their kids teeth restored with amalgams, which is generally thought to be stronger than the composite resin fillings. The major factors included in the study were hard and soft neurological signs and also presence or absence of tremors. The soft neurological signs such as learning disabilities refers to a lag in the child’s gross and fine motor development or only minimal functional disturbance. They do not show any structural damage to brain. While hard neurological signs point to a brain injury or damage to nervous tissue that manifest as seizures, cerebral palsy, or deafness or blindness due to cranial nerve injury, etc.  After 7 years of exhaustive study, the researchers could not find any change in the status of the hard or soft neurological signs in between the two groups of children that received amalgam fillings and those who received composite resin fillings.