Increased Saliva due to dental crowns

[imvron]

Has anyone ever heard of palladium toxicity?  Most PFM crowns are made mostly from this metal.  Here is my long story:  At the end of January, I had prep work for a bridge.  The two adjacent teeth had crowns on them (done 5 to 10 years ago), so my dentist took them off and prepped the teeth and then put on a temp acrylic bridge.  My saliva increased to the point I noticed it all the time; I cried over it, and I had my GP prescribe me medication to dry up my mouth.  When the permanent bridge went in mid February, I hated it and had it removed March 4.  March 4 through April 12, I had temps put back on - one silver temp and one acrylic temp.  The saliva decreased but didn't quite go back to normal.  I would have to take the medicine my GP gave me every few days.  On the morning of April 12, my dentist put the cut up bridge crowns back in my mouth (with weak cement - just in case).  The saliva came back within two hours.  I should say that I had silver fillings under the crowns and I wondered if the bridge prep work stirred that up somehow.  One crown didn't feel right, so I didn't feel like eating plus the increased saliva kept me up at night and I couldn't sleep w/o taking a sleeping pill.  In desperation, I went to a holistic dentist on Thursday, April 15 and asked her to remove the crowns and remove the silver fillings.  She did and she made plastic temp teeth for me.  The saliva went back to normal, and I really felt normal for the first time in weeks.  This morning, April 20, I went back to my dentist and asked him to put the crowns back on.  I really thought having the silver removed would be the answer.  The crowns went back on w/o any problems, and the one crown that was bothering me last Monday felt totally normal this morning.  However, within a couple of hours though, the saliva increased again.  I have to say that the increased saliva before and now didn't cause me to drool, but it was apparent it was there and that's all I could think about. Thoughts?  

[saynono]

There are some crown materials that come from China that have lead in them.  Maybe this is a contributor.  There is a YouTube video about a woman who had a severe reaction to one.  I don't remember if she mentioned the saliva problem.  

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

That is strange.  It would make sense for the others to irritate too if they're made out of the same materials but its hard to say cause each lab may fabricate their crowns their own way.

[imvron]

Dr. Tsang,

Thanks for answering.  I have several crowns in my mouth and never had a problem until my dentist did the bridge prep work.  I think I'm going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get non-metal crowns made.  It seemed like I did better when these particular crowns were out of my mouth.  For whatever reason, I seem to be reacting to the materials in these particular crowns.  

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

That's an interesting story.  So with a metal based bridge in your mouth, you have problems with salivary flow.  If you do have a sensitivity to palladium, you may want to look into doing a bridge with a different type of material such as a porcelain fused to gold (high noble metal) crown.  I believe a Captek crown is made from almost 100% gold with porcelain on top although there is some concern in regards to how soft gold is and there may be a problem with the porcelain breaking.  You may want to discuss the various material types with your doctor and find the best solution.