March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Tooth-fillings manufacturer to issue warnings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A major manufacturer of the “silver” commonly used in dental fillings has agreed to issue warnings to California dentists and patients that the product exposes them to mercury, which may cause birth defects and miscarriages.

The action, announced last week, was part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought against manufacturers by the Environmental Law Foundation under California’s Proposition 65, the 1986 anti-toxics initiative.

The company, Jeneric/Pentron Inc. of Connecticut, agreed to provide warning labels on packaging and a sign for display in dentists’ offices. Similar signs are now required under Proposition 65 for a number of products containing substances that can cause cancer, birth defects, miscarriages or infertility.

The settlement cannot force dentists to place the warnings — which feature a distinctive yellow triangle — in their waiting rooms. However, the company has agreed to stop selling the product to dentists who do not comply — once similar settlements have been reached with manufacturers covering 75 percent of the mercury amalgam market.

James Wheaton, president of the Oakland-based environmental group, hailed the settlement — the first by a major manufacturer of dental amalgam — as an important step in eliminating unnecessary exposure to mercury, long known to be toxic in high doses.

However, Wheaton said, “For most adults these levels don’t pose an acute hazard. They shouldn’t go out and plan to remove all their fillings.”

The aim instead is to encourage dental patients, particularly women still in their child-bearing years, to discuss the use of alternative, mercury-free materials, such as gold and ceramics, with their dentists.

The settlement was quickly attacked on legal and medical grounds.

Both the American Dental Association and its California affiliate insist that patients have no cause for concern, saying there are no good scientific studies connecting mercury in fillings and miscarriages or birth defects.

The dental groups point out that mercury has been used in dental fillings, which also contain silver, copper and tin, for more than 150 years.

“This is absolutely preposterous,” said Dr. Terry Donovan, an associate professor at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry, and chairman of the American Dental Association’s council on dental materials, instruments and equipment.

“There’s not a single shred of evidence in any peer-reviewed scientific journal that shows that mercury from silver amalgam fillings has any detrimental effect on health, including that of unborn children,” Donovan said.

Scientists on both sides of the continuing controversy generally agree that the highest exposures — and the greatest potential dangers — are to the dentists, hygienists and dental assistants who work with the material over a long period of time.

“If anybody is at risk, it’s the dentist,” said Donovan. “We’re around amalgam everyday, putting it in people’s teeth, taking it out, and mixing it.”

Twenty manufacturers and distributors have banded together to file a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego, contending that the state of California has no authority to impose warning requirements on products regulated by the federal government.

Stan Landfair, a Los Angeles attorney representing the manufacturers and distributors, contended that the Environmental Law Foundation suit is misdirected. He said his clients cannot force dentists to display warnings. The purpose of the suit, he said, was simply “to scare off the public … to turn dentists to more expensive filling materials. To gold or ceramic which are so expensive … that most dental insurers presently won’t even pay for them.”


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