Identified! UT - Fruit Heights, WhtFem Skeletal on hillside, Feb'15 - Theresa Greaves

[daisymae]

I'd like to explain fillings in a basic way. (dad was a dentist and I've been around dentistry my entire life). There are different materials used for fillings. The silver filling a lot of us have is called an amalgam filling. This material contains mercury and isn't used any more as mercury is not healthy for us. The newest material is called a composite filling. This substance has a white color to it and is hard to see as it is made to look like a natural tooth. If the skull is older it would have silver fillings and if newer it would have composite fillings. I'd also like to add root canals would also show up in Xrays because of the metal post in them along with the metal under the porcelain for crowns and bridges or a full cast crown which is a solid gold or other metal material crown or bridge. His or her dentist would have Xrays to compare to the skull.

 

[rainwater]

Daisymae,

Do you know, or does your dad remember, approximately when amalgam fillings stopped being used?

 

[daisymae]

Daisymae,

Do you know, or does your dad remember, approximately when amalgam fillings stopped being used?

Dad has passed away and I don't remember. One of my friends is a dentist so I'll try to contact her and will let you know if I find your answer.

 

[ice190]

Has anyone seen a reputable source (unlike Wikipedia) that said many of Bundy's victims had their front teeth knocked out? Mentioning this because he's been mentioned in this thread being his territory.

 

[hawkhd]

Definitely less than 20 years since they stopped the silver fillings, but more than 10. (Going by my own dental experiences)

 

[charminglane]

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/bundy106.htm

 

[daisymae]

I was thinking in that range also but I'd say more than ten years. Waiting to hear from my dentist friend.

 

[PastTense]

It's a multi-year transition still going on. For example:

Used for more than 50 years and now replacing amalgam as the restorative material of choice by many dental professionals, composite materials now comprise more than 95% of all anterior restorations and 50% of all posterior restorations.

http://www.dentalaegis.com/id/2011/05/replacing-amalgam-with-composite

 

[carbuff]

This is what I got from my previous dental insurance: http://www.deltadentalins.com/oral_health/amalgam.html I think this is 2-3 years old.

I know several of my back fillings are still amalgam, because I have odd-shaped and somewhat fragile teeth and need the strongest component possible.

 

[daisymae]

Thanks, carbuff. I, too, have silver amalgam fillings going back to my childhood - more than 50 years. And I also have 2 teeth filled with composites. And thanks to you, PastTense, for the interesting article.

 

[OkieGranny]

A couple of other girls from the area were added to NamUs this past week. Nancy Wilcox was 16 when she vanished from Holliday, UT, in 1974:

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/27747

Susan Curtis was 15, missing from Provo since 1975:

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/27748

Looks like they're checking any possibility.

 

[CarlK90245]

A couple of other girls from the area were added to NamUs this past week. Nancy Wilcox was 16 when she vanished from Holliday, UT, in 1974:

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/27747

Susan Curtis was 15, missing from Provo since 1975:

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/27748

Looks like they're checking any possibility.

That might be coincidental. I was talking to Janet Franson that several Bundy victims were still not in NamUs after we discovered Debra Kent's dentals in the Strongsville case file. I gave her the list of names, and she entered the ones that weren't already in. I don't think this Fruit Heights UID had anything to do with it.

 

[carbuff]

Thanks, carbuff. I, too, have silver amalgam fillings going back to my childhood - more than 50 years. And I also have 2 teeth filled with composites. And thanks to you, PastTense, for the interesting article.

Yeah, but I've also had them within the last five years as well. They might not be as prevalent as they used to be, but they're far from obsolete.

 

[daisymae]

I think you're right, carbuff!!

 

[EmmaliLucia]

Daisymae,

Do you know, or does your dad remember, approximately when amalgam fillings stopped being used?

Not a dentist here, but when I was a small child (Probably around 1999 or 2000) I got a cavity filled with Amalgam. In 2010 I got another cavity and got a composite filling

So somewhere between 1999 and 2010

 

[CCart]

It depends on $$$ too. Composite usually costs more. Sometimes insurance will pay for the amalgam filling but if you want composite you pay the difference in cost out of pocket.

 

[margarita25]

You guys are amazing!

 

[PastTense]

Composite fillings are the color of teeth. Amalgam fillings are silver metal colored. So obviously if the filling is visible on the front of your teeth when you open your mouth it is highly desirable that it look the color of teeth--so thus virtually all composite filings there. Conversely this is not important for fillings which are not so visible--and those fillings are split between amalgam and composite.

 

[Migmuu]

Out of curiosity, is it possible for a composite filling to blend in so well that a forensic anthropologist misses it? Or are they fairly noticeable still?

 

[ice190]

I have what I'm pretty sure are composite fillings but they are a medium grey color. They also show up on CT scans so I'd imagine xray. Or, according to a prior comment, they are amalgam meaning they are definitely in use as of 2003 and 2014.

Edit: in my molars. So possibly they could make them tooth colored if the teeth are in front.