It's no big secret that mercury is highly poisonous, and that exposure to mercury should be avoided at all costs. Why, then, do dentists keep putting mercury fillings in their patient's teeth? Mercury fillings - sometimes called "silver fillings," "metal fillings" or "amalgam fillings" - are incredibly toxic. Mercury fillings continuously emit mercury vapor, which is absorbed into the body in small amounts. But those "small amounts" can really add up when you have fillings in your mouth leeching mercury(...)