More than 150 dentists, dental hygienists and other oral health professionals wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking the federal government to end mercury-based dental fillings and programs.
The letter highlighted that dental amalgam, which is marketed as silver fillings, is made up of 50% mercury, according to a May 6 news release from Consumers for Dental Choice, a nonprofit advocacy group.
The group pushed for Mr. Kennedy to end the purchasing of dental amalgam by the U.S. Public Health Service and other federal agencies.
Many U.S. companies stopped making dental amalgam due to its health risks, and the FDA issued warnings against dental amalgam five years ago.
There are alternative materials that are better at preserving tooth structure with similar costs to dental amalgam, the letter added.
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