As of January 1, it was official: Now, the mercury amalgam used to make “silver” fillings is forbidden in the European Union. It cannot be exported, imported, or used, save in some extremely limited circumstances.
Even better is that the ban took effect five years earlier than planned, bringing our world one step closer to a better, safer, mercury-free future.
Meantime, the few holdouts among the makers of dental supplies are feeling the heat. (Regular readers may recall that the two largest manufacturers, Dentsply and Envista, have already left the amalgam biz behind.) Just recently, 16 civil society organisations from 12 Asian and Pacific nations submitted a petition calling for Australian Federal Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell to ban the export of dental amalgam. The petition is targeted at Southern Dental Industries, the world’s last publicly traded dental products manufacturer making dental amalgam.
SDI’s SEO has said, under stockholder pressure, that the company intends to quit making amalgam by 2028 but until then would especially target selling amalgam to “lower socio-economic markets.” As she told investors in 2023, “I think while we’re in a great position [re amalgam], we may as well maximize that.”
The petition asks that an Australian ban on amalgam exports go into effect April 1, 2025. You can read the full petition here.
Our patients, as well as regular readers of this blog, are already well aware of the dangers of dental mercury – and, thus, the need for the kind of mercury-free, mercury-safe dentistry that we’ve practiced for decades. (If you’re not familiar, this resource page from the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology will bring you up to speed, as can our archives.)
Yet even though the Minamata Convention on Mercury – a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from mercury’s harms – has been in effect since 2017, it’s kind of surprising and not that more countries, including our own, have yet to take action. In fact, the US was the very first country to become a party to the treaty.
But some important changes have been made, and all the momentum finally seems to be going in the right direction.
For instance, in 2020, the FDA finally updated its guidelines on the use of amalgam. For the first time, they acknowledged that mercury fillings should be avoided in particularly vulnerable groups, including women who are pregnant, planning on pregnancy, or nursing; children; and people with certain pre-existing conditions. That covers about two-thirds of the US population.
That change seems to have been one of the biggest inspirations for Dentsply and Envista quitting mercury. Even the American Dental Association began to change its tune a bit, modifying some of its public statements on mercury and withdrawing its policy that once helped dental boards take action against mercury-free dentists.
Meantime, amalgam use has dropped dramatically here in the US – from 21.8% of all fillings to about 4% in 2024. On the downside, usage remains highest among low-income communities and those who rely on the government for their dental care. But this inequality has sparked action, as well, such as the Red River Declarations, which call for the Indian Health Service to end amalgam use.
While much work remains to be done, our mercury-free future seems closer than ever – definitely much closer than when Dr. Mike first began to question the wisdom of filling teeth with mercury 30 years ago.
And we, too, are hopeful in thinking about the new amalgam ban in Europe and what it may mean for dentists here in North America. As Charles Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice put it in a 2023 email,
For the United States and Canada, a win in Europe portends change here too. First, it would cut off imports of amalgam from Europe. Second, it strengthens our case to end amalgam use in U.S. government programs and Canadian federal programs. Third, it signals to the diehard mercury users at the American Dental Association that they should abandon this poison sooner rather than later because we’re going to win the battle for mercury-free dentistry!
