Three mercury fillings gone...

I chipped a molar last night and, as a result, visited the dentist today, and while he was fixing the tooth, he took out three ancient silver fillings with all their old mercury goodness and put in three porcelains. And of course, whenever I get stuff like this done, I go to visit fascinating sites like this one, to read about what has been in my mouth for nearly 30 years. Ah, fun. Of course, per the FDA, mercury fillings are all harmless.

I spoke with my dentist about this, and he's a decent guy who said that there are two sides to it: yes, there are studies that show that the mercury fillings aren't good for you (and he doesn't do them anymore) but on the other side, when you go through the steps to remove the fillings, you'll be wearing down more of the tooth and could compromise the integrity of the tooth in the process. In my case, I had a chipped tooth in the vicinity of these fillings so I had a valid excuse for the removal, but I would like to eventually get ALL of these things out of my mouth for good.

After the work, I jokingly told my dentist I'd stay away from the jawbreakers, to which he, in all seriousness agreed, "yes, stay away from the jawbreakers." Drat, that used to be my favorite thing at Cracker Barrel...