Dental Materials

The mouth is a tough environment—which is why dentists do not give lifetime guarantees. Despite their best efforts, a filling may eventually crack under the stress of biting, chewing and teeth grinding, or secondary decay may develop where the filling binds to the tooth. Fully 70 percent of all dental procedures involve replacements to existing repairs, at a cost of $5 billion per year in the United States alone.

CHICAGO, Illinois – The American Dental Association (ADA) welcomes Friday’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stating that the court cannot force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to tighten restrictions on the use of dental amalgam fillings.

SAN DIEGO, California – Vistasp Karbhari, a professor of structural engineering at UC San Diego, has developed fiber-reinforced polymer composites as strong, lightweight materials for aerospace, automotive, civil and marine applications, so he thought, “If they work so well in highway bridges, why not dental bridges"”

CHICAGO, Illinois – Dr. Vincent C. Mayher, DMD, president-elect of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), testified yesterday in support of using dental amalgam as a viable option to treat dental decay. The hearing was conducted at the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Joint Meeting of the Dental Products Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health and the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

CHICAGO, Illinois – The American Dental Association (ADA) welcomes the call by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel for additional review of scientific studies on the safety of dental amalgam fillings.

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia – Characterizing dental mercury as "safe" based on two studies appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association's April 19 issue is unscientific, say a leading scientist, mercury-free dentists and advocates. Several groups also question the ethics of exposing children to a neurotoxin.

CHICAGO, Illinois – There were no statistically significant differences in neuropsychological and neurobehavioral effects among children whose dental caries were treated with mercury amalgam fillings and those treated with a composite dental restorative material, according to two studies in the April 19 issue of JAMA.

BOSTON, Massachusetts and LISBON, Portugal – Scientists supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health, report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association the results of the first-ever randomized clinical trials to evaluate the safety of placing amalgam fillings, which contain mercury, in the teeth of children.

CHICAGO, Illinois – The results of two independent and well-designed studies published in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association add to the substantial body of peer-reviewed scientific literature that supports the safety of dental amalgam as an option for patients and their dentists in treating dental decay.

GLASGOW, United Kingdom – Nanospheres could help dentists fill the tiny holes in our teeth that make them incredibly sensitive, and that cause severe pain for millions of adults and children worldwide.