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Hi All--

I didn't intend to do a summary of this, but thought
perhaps my situation could help others if confronted
with the same issues.

I rec'd about 20 responses to my request for advice on
what to do when my dentist wouldn't give me
information on the dental materials he planned to use
to replace a filling. I had given him a list of
manufacturers and phone numbers, and had offered
myself, to call the manufacturers of any of the
materials he planned to use.

Briefly, a few people said they had never had problems
in the past and to trust the dentist.

A majority of people suggested I get a new dentist -
one that had my best interests at heart.

Several people suggested I try again to explain the
situation to my dentist and see if he would cooperate.
(I did that yesterday a.m.; I went to his office and
spoke to him face to face - he got around my request
for the manufacturers and phone numbers of the
products he planned to use by saying he had called
them and they told him they "thought" the products
were gf, but they couldn't be certain.)

One person suggested I call my state's dental
association.

One person stated that perhaps the reason my dentist
wasn't cooperating was his fear of liability.

This is what I did: I called my state's dental
association and asked them if I, or my dentist, should
be able to get a definite list of ingredients used in
dental material. After a lengthier conversation, it
boiled down to, yes, my dentist should be able to tell
me if what he uses contains gluten or give me the
manufacturer's phone number to call myself. That
person's personal feeling was that I had a right to
know what was being used in my mouth. She then
referred me to the State Board of Dentists for
possible additional help. The State Board basically
said the same thing...I should be able to get a
definite list of materials in dental material from the
manufacturer. They referred me to the Board of
Pharmacy, which can give patients or dentists
information on what a particular material contains
(this was new to me, but always glad to have another
resource). Because I didn't have the name of the
dental material my dentist planned to use, they
couldn't help.

So, not really knowing if gluten in dental material is
a big thing or not, but not being comfortable with my
dentist's attempt to side-step my request for
information, I called another dentist. They gave me
the names and 800 numbers for all of the things they
use and I'll have my filling replaced today. (I
already knew that this dentist was good, so the
biggest challenge in changing dentists wasn't finding
a good one)

I suspect that my first dentist was thinking of
liability issues. This is a very sad thing if that's
the reason he wouldn't cooperate, hoping I would do
exactly what I did - go elsewhere.

Hope some of the information here will help others if
found in the same situation. For me, I feel as though
I have the additional problem now of communicating my
need to know the gluten status of drugs or food or
dental material without losing professional medical
care.

Ayn/Kansas