Dental Material Compatibility Testing

Dr. Yuriy May, voted Hartford’s Top Holistic Dentist, uses several dental material tests to ensure that the dental materials selected for his patients are biocomptatible with their unique biochemistry, avoiding unnecessary negative reactions. The purpose of biocompatibility testing prior to dental treatment is to select those materials that pose the least amount of stress on the immune system and will form optimal integration with the body for the lifetime of the restoration.

Biocompatible Dental Materials

In dentistry today, there are over 2,000 dental materials in use across 16,000+ branded dental products and knowing how each material reacts within a patient’s body is paramount to maintaining optimal health, ensuring longevity of dental restorations and reducing adverse reactions. The use of different metals, compounds, chemicals, and products in dentistry can pose a serious and severe immune system challenge to patients that are reactive to them. Because each individual possesses a unique biochemistry, no single dental material is suited for every single patient as these materials interact differently with every individual. For some, certain substances (and their corrosion byproducts) can have toxic and hazardous effects, and often result in serious health problems. Unlike food allergies, which are relatively short-lived  and eventually can be eliminated through avoidance, dental materials are in your tissues for years and decades, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Who Should Get Tested?

Dental material testing is especially important for persons with existing allergies and autoimmune conditions, as well as those individuals that have more sensitive and stressed immune systems. Research has shown time and time again that placing one or more reactive dental materials in the mouth will burden the immune system even more, perpetuating and exacerbating the process of systemic inflammation, disease and deteriorating health.

Testing is especially recommended for patients who are or have been affected by:

What is Biocompatible?

Biocompatible materials are substances with qualities that enable them to exist within a living organism without negative reactions and harm. Bio-inert materials are those that are non-reactive with bodily tissues. Ideally, any material placed in the human body should be both biocompatible and bio-inert.

Benefits of Testing for Biocompatibility of Dental Materials

The purpose of biocompatability testing prior to dental treatment is to select the materials that are the least immune challenging, and then adhere to those chosen materials, when continuing with your dentistry. The body is constantly exposed to harm – from exposure to bacteria, viruses to environmental toxins, and even everyday stress. Dr. May’s goal is to reduce exposing your body to additional stressors in the form of reactive dental materials in order to prevent the process of disease and to keep patients healthy and feeling their best. By doing this, patients avoid failed dental restorations, low-grade systemic inflammation, allergic reactions, gum inflammation, eczema and dermatitis, worsening of auto-immune conditions and the overall process of disease.

Which metals can induce an allergy?

The most frequent metal allergens are nickel, gold, palladium, various mercury compounds, cobalt and chromium. Once attached or bound, these metals may take on qualities which can participate in a number of health damaging pathologies. They may become toxic in some scenarios.

Occasionally, other metals can induce positive responses in MELISA, e.g. beryllium, titanium, tin, platinum and copper. While allergies to titanium may be rare they do exist and affect approximately 1%-3% of the population.

Dental Material Tests Offered

Clifford Materials Reactivity Testing (CMRT) CMRT is a blood test that goes through a laboratory screening process used to help identify existing sensitivity problems to various chemical groups in an individual patient. At Dental Solutions NHB we use this form of testing with patients who are known to be very chemically sensitive. The Dental Materials Screening Panel  test provides a list of all the commonly used dental materials and will evaluate whether a patient has systemic sensitivities to over 2,000 individual dental materials, from more than 16,003 trade-named products and 94 chemical groups and families of dental products. Clifford Materials Reactivity Testing helps Dental Solutions determine which dental materials are safe to use based on each patient’s individual bio-chemistry. Read more about the CMRT test at www.ccrlab.com

MELISA® (Memory Lymphocyte Immunostimulation Assay) Test  MELISA is an acronym for Memory Lymphocyte Immunostimulation Assay, also known as a “delayed hypersensitivity” blood test. This test is used to determine whether titanium dental implants, metal bridges,crowns and over dentures or amalgam fillings are causing allergic reactions within the body. The test works by isolating white blood cells (lymphocytes) from whole blood and testing them against allergens chosen according to the patient’s situation, including existing dental restorations alongside dental and occupational history. The blood is incubated for five days and the lymphocyte reaction is measured by two separate technologies: one based on the uptake of a radioisotope by dividing lymphocytes; the other on an evaluation by microscopy. The level of reactivity is measured as a Stimulation Index (SI). A value over 3 indicates a positive reaction to a given allergen. Read more about the MELISA® Test at www.melisatest.com

Doctors Data This is a hair test used to determine the degree of mercury disruption for those patients who exhibit mercury toxicity symptoms and whose medical history suggests they may be experiencing mercury exposure (from amalgams) and high mercury levels in their body. The Doctors Data lab test looks at minerals in a person’s body, including those considered nutrients that essential for the proper functioning of the body, for instance macronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and zinc, and trace minerals including selenium, iodine, boron and molybdenum. Conversely, there are a number of elements that are toxic to the human body, interfere with its functioning and undermine health—such as mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminum, and arsenic. These toxic metals have no known physiological functions. They can be toxic to organ systems and may disrupt the balance of essential nutrients. Toxic metals and essential element status can be assessed in urine, blood, feces and hair. More about the Doctors Data test at www.doctorsdata.com

This test is useful for:

Natural Dentistry is focused on determining whether patients are affected by toxic materials that are present in dental materials, highlighted by first item in the above list.

Titanium Allergies – Titanium is Not Bio-Inert

A staple material of dentistry, specifically dental implants, it has only recently been determined that Titanium is not bioinert and laboratories using the MELISA® test have found approximately 1%-3% of patients being tested with titanium implants prove to be allergic. The issue stems from titanium’s metal properties which may the material susceptible to corrosion, releasing reactive (non-bioinert) particles into the body. This is something that only happens rarely, and is usually as a result of some problem with the implant. Anyone who is hypersensitive to titanium, or who prefers not to have any type of metal in their body to avoid metal’s galvanizing effects can still benefit from dental implants, provided they are biocompatible, all-ceramic, zirconia dental impacts. Read more about Dr. May’s specialty in placing Biocompatible Zirconium Dental Implants and Dr. Yuriy May, Connecticut’s Leading Metal-Free Dental Implant Dentist!