Re: allergies to dental materials
The vast majority of dental materials do not produce an allergic reaction. A few will. The most common allergic reaction to dental materials used in the mouth will be an allergic reaction to nickel in non-precious crowns. Approximately 10% of women and less in men have a nickel allergy. You can tell for sure if you have a nickel allergy by taping a pisce of nickel to your arm for a day. If you have red tissue underneath, then you have a nickel allergy. During the 1970s when gold prices soared, non-precious metals were developed and used as the base metal for porcelain fused to metal crowns. There are still a large number of dentists who use non-precious metals in their crowns. When used in an allergic patient, the gum tissue around the crown becomes red and irritated. Crowns that are all porcelain or used with semi- or precious metal do not have nickel.
Latex allergies are probably the second most common allergy. A true allergy can cause difficulty breathing and rashes. If you have a true latex allergy, then have your dentist use vynil gloves and request use of septocaine as an anesthetic (it is currently the only one that does not use latex in the plunger).
Acrylic allergies are also seen. Acrylics are used in dentures. Usually it is not a cured acrylic that is the problem as much as it is the liquid (monomer) used. It also maifests itself as a contact dermatitis (reddness and itching tissues).
Many people say they have an allergy to epinepherine (contained in the local anesthetic). Since humans produce their own epinephrine, an allergy to it is not really possible. Usually what happens is that some of the anesthetic is injected directly into the blood stream instead of the tissues. This does happen sometimes and is sometomes unavoidable. As the epinephrine enters the blood stream, the patient's heart rate increases dramatically and the patient feels like they are having a heart attack. They may even faint. Unless the patient has some underlying heart condition, this occurance is self limiting and rareloy poses any real danger. These effects will last 3-5 minutes.
Any other allergies or manifestations to dental materials are extremely rare.