Dental Accord Delayed

An agreement to place warnings in all California dental offices on the potential dangers of mercury fillings was delayed Monday when a judge ordered revisions so patients can better decide how serious the risk is.

Attorneys for the environmental group As You Sow and the California Dental Assn. must submit proposed changes to the state attorney general’s office. If they can’t agree, the attorney general’s office will suggest warning language.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge A. James Robertson II has ordered the parties to court Thursday, when he is scheduled to issue the order requiring that warnings be posted within 90 days.

As You Sow filed the lawsuit two years ago under the state’s Proposition 65, an initiative that requires businesses to post warning signs if they use hazardous chemicals.

For decades, dentists have argued with environmental and patients groups over the effects of mercury amalgam. Both sides agree that mercury by itself is toxic.

But the American Dental Assn. has concluded that not enough is absorbed into the body through the fillings to affect health.

But critics, such as As You Sow, say it causes reproductive and neurological damage.

Shawn Khorrami, a Van Nuys attorney for the environmental group, said the agreement will mark the first time the U.S. dental establishment “has admitted that mercury is potentially a problem.”

Lori Reed, a spokeswoman for the California Dental Assn., downplayed its significance, saying that the warning simply puts dentists in compliance with Proposition 65.

Ed Weil, the supervising state attorney general, said the judge wants language to help patients gauge what science says about the risk and to suggest that they consult their dentists.

Gold and ceramic fillings can substitute for amalgam, which contains mercury. Dentists say mercury is easier to work with and more durable. It also is cheaper.

Weil noted that Canadian dentists do not use mercury fillings in pregnant women, and that several European countries are much stricter with their use.