I had an infected (heavily amalgam filled) tooth when pregnant and took antibiotics for it on the advice of my dentist who said she would be far happier drilling the filling once I'd had my baby- it needs a root canal. The infection seems to be returning intermittently and I'm throwing corsodyl and frequent brushing at it. My daughter is now 10 weeks and I'm ebf. She won't take a bottle (we're working on it).
I've read quite a bit about whether amalgam removal during bf is safe e.g. Kellymom website, NHS guidelines... though have also dabbled in slightly scary holistic dentist websites and forum posts written by people declaring they have mercury poisoning etc. Unfortunately the conclusion seems to be that there is no conclusion because no specific studies exist. It's recommended that you avoid if poss because removal (rather than placement or simply having the fillings in your mouth) leads to vapour inhalation which makes it through to breastmilk in unknown quantities and may affect the baby in unknown ways. I had very much hoped to make it to a point where she was bigger/ weaning/ I could express and then bottle feed for a few days, but that may not happen. The fact that my dentist seems happier to remove it now than when pregnant is some consolation, though the way she described it to me made it sound as though she would use a dam (and probably cold water and suction) but not an alternative air source e.g. oxygen mask, all of which are recommended. Not even sure whether you can ask for oxygen at a standard NHS dentist.
Would be v grateful to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation and just had to have the filling removed, or successfully expressed and then pumped and dumped. Did you feel it affected your baby? Would also love any dentists to share what they would do/ recommend in this situation. Slightly traumatised by process of weighing up whether to try to wait as long as possible or have it done now but insist all precautions are taken.