Metal Allergies in Your Mouth

Filed in archive Metal Allergies on January 17, 2007

If you have metal allergies, you know you should be careful in choosing jewelry and other accessories. But metal allergies are not only produce allergy symptoms on the skin. It's an issue for patients who need orthopedic implants, too, as well as those undergoing dental procedures.

Here's another news article discussing metal allergies and dental procedures:

"For 80 percent of the people that have an [metal] allergy on their skin, they also have a problem inside their mouth," said Kravitz, a prosthodontist at the Washington Center for Image Dentistry in Bethesda, Md.

Studies show up to 16 percent of women and six percent of men are allergic to metal that's found in onlays, crowns, and dentures.

"It gets red, it gets swollen, it gets itchy, and you have a strong metallic taste," Kravitz said.

Solution? Have those metal crowns with ceramic ones. They do cost more, so you might want to know if your medical insurance covers it, which could be the case, considering your metal allergies.