If you’ve ever had a dentist use amalgam to give you a filling, you may have discovered some minor discoloration on the soft tissues in your mouth. It may come in the form of a blue-gray stain on either your cheek or gums. Our International District dentistry clinic knows stains like this as amalgam tattoos.
An amalgam tattoo occurs when some of the material used in your amalgam filling embeds itself in your tissues, much like the ink of a regular tattoo. These are nothing to worry about for the most part, though some people with more visible tattoos find them to be unsightly. If this is the case, you may be able to have the mark removed with a minor surgical procedure.
Look out for any changes in your amalgam tattoo. If the mark gets bigger or changes color, chances are good that it isn’t an amalgam tattoo after all. This may be a warning sign of oral cancer or other dangerous condition, which you should show to your dentist.