Teach dental students ways to avoid silver fillings: Experts

The next generation of dentists need to gain hands-on knowledge on using alternatives to silver fillings, which contain mercury, emphasised professionals and environmental experts at a roundtable yesterday.

They urged the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council to adopt the alternatives in the curriculum excluding use of the toxic metal. The roundtable, “Dental College Curriculum Revision and Adoption”, was organised by Bangladesh Dental Society and the Environment and Social Development Organisation at a hotel in the capital.

Dental amalgams, which contain mercury, is a known health hazard for children, pregnant women, nursing infants and people with kidney complications, they claimed.

Moreover, people exposed to mercury at workplaces, including dentists, students, technicians, and patients, may suffer from problems stemming from elevated levels of the metal in blood, they added.

The organisation Chairperson Syed Marghub Murshed urged practitioners to come together for the changes.

World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry Executive Vice President Dr Shahriar Hossain spoke on the alliance's activities and on the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.

The society President Prof Abul Kashem and Secretary General Dr Humayun Kabir Bulbul, the organisation Executive Director Siddika Sultana and the council's representatives were present.