A broad array of consumer, medical, parents, and environmental groups are lauding a new safety communication from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that recommends against use of dental amalgam in children and many women. Dental amalgam is a filling material that is approximately 50% mercury – a known neurotoxin and major pollutant.
Today, FDA recommended that mercury-free fillings, such as composite and glass ionomers, be used in people at higher risk for adverse health effects from mercury exposure, including pregnant women and their developing babies, women planning to become pregnant, nursing women and their infants, children (especially those under age six), individuals with neurological or impaired kidney function, and people with sensitivity to mercury or other components of amalgam.