Should You Replace Your Metal Fillings? Here’s Why Tooth-Colored Restorations Are the Way to Go

While heavy metal certainly makes a great musical genre, it has fallen out of favor as a material for dental restorations. For generations, cavities were treated with fillings made from dental amalgam, a blend of tin, zinc, copper, silver, and mercury. By weight, this material is about 50% mercury, an element well-known for its neurologically toxic properties. If any of your old amalgam fillings are due to be replaced soon, here’s why you might want to consider upgrading to tooth-colored fillings.