Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991                   TAG: 9103160024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FDA PANEL SAYS DENTAL FILLINGS SAFE

But they recommended that more research be done to allay fears of the public that the fillings can cause health problems.

Mercury is highly toxic. The question of whether mercury in dental amalgams leeches into the body and interferes with the nervous system has been debated for years.

The Food and Drug Administration asked the committee to evaluate the most recent studies.

"We did not receive any information today that would warrant saying that amalgam is unsafe," said Dr. Manville Duncanson, chairman of the Dental Materials Department at the University of Oklahoma and chairman of the FDA's Dental Products Panel.

Some dentists, researchers and consumer advocates had asked the committee to call for a ban on the use of mercury in fillings.

"We believe that the data to date are not sufficient to demonstrate clinical harm to patients," said Robert Sheridan, director of the FDA's Office of Device Evaluation. Animal studies that show significant mercury absorption from dental fillings, and some anecdotal accounts of harmful effects in humans, are compelling and raise important questions, he said. But he added no studies have been done in humans and there is no evidence that mercury amalgam fillings cause disease.