Bioactive Glass - The Future of Dental Fillings

by Joe Battaglia
Prevent Disease

Mercury amalgam fillings are now a well known toxicity to the body of both dental patients and dentists themselves. Specific resin composites used now by many dentists are safer, however insufficient research has been able to validate long-term health implications. Engineers have made some promising findings about the ability of ‘bioactive’ glass which may be not only the safest of the three, but perhaps even provide some of the minerals needed to replace those lost to tooth decay.

It will be noted that most of the 170,000 dentists in this US who work with amalgams do not think exposure to dental mercury causes any harm what-so-ever. And why should they since they were taught in dental school that amalgams don’t release mercury.

The film You Put What In My Mouth? explores why dentists are unaware of manufacturer warnings and the elevated exposures during these routine dental procedures.

Accelerated and ground-breaking research on a new type of material means we are just a few years away from millions of people around the world who might be able to walk around with an unusual kind of glass in their mouth, and using it every time they eat.

Due to its superior mineral enrichment efficacy, our bioactive glass can add supplementary therapeutic and prophylactic effects to dental filling composites without long-term health risks.

Bioactive glass is a group of surface reactive glass-ceramic biomaterials that have now been extensively investigated for use as implant materials in the human body to repair and replace diseased or damaged bone.

Prolonging the life of composite tooth fillings could be an important step forward for dental treatment, the researchers say, since more than 122 million composite tooth restorations are made in the United States every year. An average person uses their teeth for more than 600,000 “chews” a year, and some studies suggest the average lifetime of a posterior dental composite is only six years.
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