Amalgam fillings - do you have them? Do they worry you?

[AmIBeingAMentalistOrNot]

A relative has recently been saying things about amalgam fillings and how bad they are for you, and it's made me stress out about the fact I have an enormous one (intact; had it for 13 years).

Do you have these fillings, and do they worry you? Just need to get some perspective. Many thanks.

What are your specific concerns?
Do you think dentists would routinely use them if there was evidence of any significant harm to humans?

I've talked to my dentist about it. He says there is more risk in takeing then out than leaving them be.

I have at least six!

They can be bad, but they have been used worldwide for years and haven't caused a tooth related apocalypse so shouldn't be anything to worry about

Thank you all.

I don't dare look it up as I have a tendency to panic. Relative has talked about all sorts of health effects. There's a dentist local to me who apparently uses all sorts of special equipment to remove them "safely", but it's horribly expensive and I'm not sure whether it's worth pursuing.

Thanks again.

I had a lot of amalgam fillings. Then the concerns about them started to appear in the press and health pages and so on, so whenever I need one to be re-done, it's been done with composite instead of amalgam.

I had an interesting chat with a dentist while pg with DS1 - I can't remember the exact detail of what happened, but it was around having my amalgam fillings replaced, and she said that it would be a bad idea to have them drilled out while pg because that's when the mercury "vapour" was likely to be released and had the potential to cause problems. Then she was only going to put another temporary filling in as an amalgam because I'd have it replaced soon enough with a composite - but I said "well you'll have to drill it out then, won't you, so isn't that just what you've been telling me not to do?" and she said "Oh yes" and put a non-amalgam temporary filling in instead (I think I'd broken a tooth but honestly can't remember exactly - it was 10y ago and I was pg at the time!)