Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who championed a cause that she initially knew nothing about, yesterday said she recently had written her dentist with instructions to put no more dental amalgam in her 12-year-old daughter's teeth.
To her surprise, he responded that he had stopped using it three years ago.
The information sheet, which contains no dire warnings or even recommendations, was researched and written by physicians and scientists on the city Board of Health.
"It is about disclosure and consumers' right to know," Brown said.
The sheet mainly describes types of fillings (primarily silver-gray colored dental amalgam vs. white tooth-colored resin composite) and boils complicated scientific questions down to understandable bits.
A bullet point noting that "high levels of mercury can cause toxic effects on the brain, nervous system, and kidneys" is followed by another that says, "The mercury levels in people with amalgam fillings are not high enough to be considered toxic."
But the city's move generated intense disagreement from outside groups, starting with the title on top: Information Sheet - Amalgam dental fillings containing mercury.
The Philadelphia County Dental Society, which would have preferred nothing at all, argued for removing the word mercury. The group says that the form in the filling is perfectly safe and that simply naming the metal could scare away people who need dental care and are already afraid of the drill.
Consumers for Dental Choice, which believes dental amalgam should be banned, wanted to add the word toxic to the headline. The group believes that mercury in fillings may cause several major disorders, including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
