Dr. Katie ToThe Wellness Dentist, CEO and Founder of Center for Wellness Dentistry and Wellness Dentist Institute.

That Metal Line Near Your Crown, Is It Mercury?

11 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief dental Q&A, the speaker addresses a common patient concern about a metallic line visible near a dental crown. They explain that the visible metal is often part of a porcelain‑fused‑to‑metal restoration or other crown materials and does not automatically indicate the presence of mercury or amalgam. The speaker notes that radiographs cannot reveal what lies beneath metal restorations, so definitive identification of underlying material requires removal of the crown. They also clarify that crowns are typically fabricated from a range of materials—such as various metals, gold, porcelain, or zirconia—rather than amalgam, and that the visual appearance of metal does not necessarily reflect its composition.

Chapters

Metallic taste. I may have some under crowns. Is the metal I see between the crown and gum mercury? That's a great question. Again, that could be a porcelain fused metal. It doesn't mean that metal that you see is mercury. It might just be the metal. But that's not to say that you may not have mercury underneath that crown, because anything with metal, when we take x-rays, we can't see underneath it. So all the ones that we saw in the pictures earlier, we won't know until the crown is actually removed. Are caps amalgam? Typically not. Typically crowns are made with different types of materials, so different types of metals, gold, or it could be porcelain or zirconia. They don't always mean that there's amalgam on there.