Can getting an MRI scan damage your dental fillings or cause harmful effects? We asked a neuroimaging expert, and her answer challenges common misconceptions about MRI safety for people with dental work.

Rebecca Dewey has answered Unlikely An expert from The University of Nottingham in Neuroimaging, Neuroscience

It's unlikely to - your fillings don't contain magnetic materials and they don't form a current loop, i.e. a circuit through which an electrical current can flow. You might experience a metallic taste in your mouth but that's not the scan per se - it's the magnetic field gradient (i.e. the magnetic field changing over time or you moving from one area of the field to another) acting on your saliva/taste buds. That taste will stop as soon as you stay still or leave the field.

What's more interesting though is the effect of your fillings on the MRI scan. The metal won't generate any signal as it contains no water, and it will also cause there to be no signal in the surrounding areas, so you will look like those teeth are missing! No harm done though and your teeth are far enough away from your brain that it won't make your images any less useful!

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