Hi. That's a good question.

I'm not sure, but I don't think you need worry about mercury from a tooth that has been pulled unless there is some amalgam stuck in the socket. I think the mercury problem would be from the mercury you were exposed to when you had the filling put in, while you had the filling, and any dental work you had done on it. The mercury will most likely still be in your body if you are a slow excreter.

Infection, however, could still be a problem. This is a problem I am facing at the moment. Several years ago a rear tooth got so decayed I had a serious infection in it. The dentist gave me penicilin to clear it and then did root canal. However, recent x-ray shows that there is still infection in the socket. I am having the tooth pulled, but unless the dentist cleans out the socket, the infection will stay there. Not all dentists do this, they just pull the tooth.

I really am not sure about mercury being a problem from a pulled tooth, though. My logic tells me you can only get the poisoning if you have amalgam present, so if all the amalgam was removed with the tooth, I'd think you wouldn't have to worry about that, unless there is something that happens with root canals that means the mercury stores up in the socket and then leaks out into the body if it not cleaned out. I don't know. I'm sure someone else here will know <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />