Am I going mad or did i hear somewhere something about conception and fillings?!

[sammysam]

I'm sure I did? Something about women not concieving til their dentist changed their fillings...
As you can tell i'm starting to go crazy with this TTC lark and am making wild and crazy assumptions etc about why it isn't happening for us!

Does anyone know where I could read about this or did i really make it up

I only have one dark filling which was done since having dd, BUT I now have fixed braces so in my paranoid state i'm linking the two and wandering if fillings can stop you then maybe braces can as well [loony, crazy woman].

Not that there is much I could do about it as I have about a year left with them on

Tell me i'm being crazy !

isn't it that you shouldn't have fillings replaced while you are pg? something to do with the mercury vapour which is released when they are removed i thought. I am having a couple of fillings replaced soon and so will wait till afterwards before ttc.
I'm pretty sure braces will be no problem but I'm no professional.

If you read sarah dobbyn's the fertility diet she says you should change your mercury fillings before ttc as according to her they can impair fertility, but she also says you shouldnt spend too long in front of the computer and me being mumsnet fiend I am going to be selective about her advice I listen to!

I am going to the dentist tommorrow and I am going to ask about getting my mercury fillings taken out, but that is also because I grind my jaw something chronic so I dont think it can be good for me anyway!

Hi Sammysam,

I read in my Marilyn Glenville book about fillings and the darker ones containing mercury which isn't good for you but she recommended you shouldn't have any work done on them whilst TTC she didn't say it would stop you conceiving.

Her book has about a page of info on it if you wanted to read it....

I wouldn't worry too much I'm sure it will be fine

xx

I trust wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_controversy

Thank you everyone-as I suspected I AM going crazy with all this TTC malarky
just clutching at straws me thinks! Ignore me

Hi everyone, I'm having an amalgam filling removed tomorrow (15 October) and hope to ttc in early November (around 4 November). Would that be a long enough gap to exclude any risk, do you think? So grateful if someone out there has an answer - Thandeka or olivo maybe?

Hi olivo from the other thread! (((waves)))

Hello again - Have now got myself properly worried after reading (ie googling!) on the net that you should wait about 18 months to ttc after having amalgam fillings out! Have actually asked my dentist to ring me and advise, otherwise I'm not going ahead... Any info from you lovely ladies still very welcome though!

Okay I just got back from the dentist (still numb such is my dedication to mumsnet!) had a crown fitted and told my dentist we were TTC and asked about removing my amalgam fillings. He suggested not as it would be slightly more dangerous to remove them than leave them there however he did point out that dentists would be most at risk from exposure to almalgam and all the studies show dentists live longer than average and are more likely to die of heart attacks than anything else! He has also just become a father for the third time!

He also rather worryingly said "Oh and its not like other fillings are angels- some composite fillings (the white ones) are oestrogen mimics!" so not that reassuring since I have loads and loads of fillings! Basically I guess the solution is to not have fillings in the first place! I wonder if any study has found a correlation between fertility and number of fillings? (although would be near impossible to prove causation- eg. more fillings could mean more sugary diet which affect fertility more).

Ho hum. I think 3 weeks would be enough time to clear any mercury from your system- there is a way you can do it accroding to the fertility diet (sarah dobbyn)- something about hot baths and drinking some salt drink or other.

Thanks Thandeka! I'm still waiting for the dentist to call me back, but have pretty much decided to leave the filling alone for now, on the basis that not stirring anything up in there immediately before ttc is the safest policy. I know it's not ideal to have amalgam at all, but I'm choosing the lesser of two evils... Once I have a healthy (weaned) baby they can fiddle about with my amalgam as much as they like!

I also have loads of fillings (amalgam and composite) and I've conceived twice, both times very easily. All of these fillings were there already when I did. Whether or not they affect you probably depends very much on the individual. Thanks again, and I hope your numbness soon goes! x

OMG - now I'm worried. i was proposing to finish my pills in order to ttc just a few days after getting my fillings changed. Now i'm thinking i might cancel if it takes a long time to get rid of anything in the system.
VM ( hello again!!) please post and let us know what your dentist says.

following on from my discussion with the dentist i am of the opinion leave them. And I am a bad teeth grinder so prob high risk of something going on.

Hmmmmmm then again I haven't conceived #1 yet. If the grapefruit juice, preseed and yoga all fail me this time next year maybe I will consider this again.....

I think i might T. my dentit did say there was no hurry, this year, next year,whenever, so maybe i'll wait.

olivo - Hi! ((waves)) First I should explain that I was supposed to have this filling removed while I was still pg (before I miscarried) because there's a shadow on the tooth, and that my dentist had advised me not to have the procedure at the time because the mercury released during the removal can cross the placenta. She said it oculd wait till after the baby was born. After I miscarried I blithely rescheduled the removal, and then suddenly thought, Hang on - I may be pg next month! So how safe is it to have mercury hanging around in my bloodstream if I conceive then?

Well, my dentist got her receptionist to ring me today to say that the procedure was perfectly safe and that I'd be at no risk of contamination as they 'isolate' the tooth and make sure that no leaking takes place (this is a private dentist, by the way, and she costs a bomb.) BUT I'm not convinced. If it's so safe, then why was it not advisable in pregnancy? And would it really be OK, say, just three weeks before a pg? So I made three more calls:

• I rang NHS direct to see what the party line on almalgam and amalgam removal was. They (predictably) told me that amalgam removal is perfectly safe even immediately before ttc, and not even contraindicated as a filling substance in pg (whereas my dentist had ruled out even removing this filling while I was still pg.)
• Two other (private) dentists whom I rang both said that there is no proven link between the temporary elevated mercury levels in the blood that may arise from having amalgam removed from the mouth and subsequent pg problems. But the third also asked me the sensible question: how urgent was this work I was about to have done? Could it wait? If so, he advised me to leave things as they are for my own peace of mind! A sensible man...

SO I am going in to see my dentist tomorrow with a view to checking out if this really needs to be done now. Guess I have to weigh up whether developing an infected tooth would be a greater risk to a pg than possible raised metal levels in my blood (and the jury is still out as to whether this is a risk or not) prior to conception.

If your procedure isn't medically necessary, then I'd probably advise to leave the fillings in for now... Just for the sake of sanity!

Will let you know what the dentist says tomorrow!

VM - thanks for posting back. i have been contemplating this all night and am going to phone and cancel my appt I think.my dentist did say she'd use the rubber dam to isolate each tooth but it was implied that it was to make it more comfortable for me, a bit of a scaredy cat.
I do wonder though if the one that is chipped would be releasing mercury anyway in which case maybe it should come out.
sammy, sorry for crashing your thread on this, but i guess its all kind of related to your OP!

The mercury is tightly bound up in the structure of a filling and isn't released if the filling gets broken or with grinding of your teeth. It is the heat generated from the drill upon removal of the filling that releases mercury vapour, and it can be released when placing a new filling until it sets and the mercury binds into the structure. A rubber dam will reduce any absorption as does effective aspiration (the suction thing the nurse uses to suck up water/saliva/particles etc.

Another thing to try is charcoal tablets (avaliable from most health food stores). Take these prior to your appt and any mercury thaat may enter your system (swallowed that is) will be absorbed by the charcoal in your stomach and carried safely out of your system rather than being absorbed into the blood stream. HTH

Thanks COV, was going to try and track you donw on the health threads. maybe i will go ahead and get them done and do the charcoal thing then. i know if I put it off until after tcc, hopefully pg and hopefully bf, It could be a very long time!

Thanks COV! Are you a dentist? If so, double thanks for posting here - it's hard to get such detailed information from anyone, so much appreciated!

My appointment is still to come this afternoon. I've still pretty much decided that I'll leave the filling as is for now unless there's a pressing medical reason for it to come out. Will let you know... olivo, do let me know how it goes for you! x

Hi again, before I go to see the dentist, here are two links to guidelines about the safe removal of amalgam (none of which, incidentally, except for the rubber dam, my dentist has discussed with me!)

safety precautions during amalgam removal

safe removal of amalgam fillings

... and apologies for sammysam for crashing this thread!

no worries villagemum-I don't believe there is such a thing as thread crashing-tis good that threads can help people
I haven't managed to read all the thread-hopefully i will be able to later!

ComeOVeneer, may I please ask you one last thing? Would having amalgam-filled teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist release any mercury vapour? (Not sure if any heat is involved in cleaning and polishing or if it's even significant - but I'm sure you'd know!) Thanks SO much.

olivo, my dentist said yesterday to leave my filling alone for now since the problem is minimal and I'm obviously concerned about having it out before ttc. I'm much happier about that now... We also talked about removal protocols for when it does happen (though to be honest, if it's only my body we're talking about, then I'm much more relaxed about the risk of inhaling or ingesting mercury. It's the effects on a new foetus that concern me!)

And thanks sammysam - your original question has certainly opened up a debate on all things dental! For what it's worth, I don't believe that your braces would create any conception problems because they don't contain any mercury/amalgam - so even if amalgam did interefere with fertility (and as I've said, I have several fillings and they've never stopped me getting pg) then your braces would still be innocent! I also don't think that just one amalgam filling would be a problem. Best of luck with ttc! x