A nickel allergy is an accute type of allergy, if you have amalgam fillings and you are not experiancing any allergic reaction to them you don't have to worry about it.
I am curious how you know you have a nickel allergy?
The words "silver fillings" as we have been informed throughout the years by a lot of dentists, is unfortunately a misnomer. It makes it a little confusing, doesn't it?
The exact metal composition in a "silver filling" varies, but it is approximately 50% mercury, 30% silver, and the remaining amount is a mixture of other metals like copper, tin, and zinc. Note that some of these dental amalgams can also have a much higher proportion of copper, so that the amount of silver for these types could be even less than 30%. I hadn't heard if these dental amalgams contain nickel, but it is hard to say exactly what may have been placed in your teeth. You can read what was discussed below in this dental healthboard concerning dental amalgams by various people.
Note that if you have "silver fillings" that contain mercury, you have mercury in various other locations in your body (like a lot of us), as it spreads throughout. Mercury is extremely poisonous, much more than lead, especially if is methylated. Some of us believe that it is a serious health concern. Others believe that it is safe to have mercury in a dental amalgam in your teeth. You'll have to read up on it from many sources.
Kellybelly99 - Your reaction sounds more like a herpes I outbreak (don't be embarrassed I've heard estimates of up to 90% of the population having the virus, only not everyone has the symptoms) then a nickel allergy. I wouldn't worry to much about your silver fillings beyond that as there is no hard science anywhere to show them to be in any way harmful. Rhody is one of those people who as unfounded opinions based on pseduoscience and I'd hate to see you go to the expense and trauma of having amalgam fillings removed based on poor science.
Also to answer your question, do we think that the crusty lips could be somehow caused by the mercury-silver dental amalgam fillings? None of us on this healthboard can say for sure. Metal allergies are being researched all the time by scientists throughout the world.
I hope that you are seeing a good doctor to help you. All we can do is point out some good information, which may help you work with your medical professional in finding out more of what is causing your lip problems.
Here's one URL you might want to look at:
[url="http://www.melisa.org/nialler.pdf"]http://www.melisa.org/nialler.pdf[/url]
I didn't have time to read it thoroughly. I neither support or disagree with the reading. It's just seemed quite interesting. Apparently some people are painfully allergic to nickel as well as to mercury. In another source, I saw a picture of person with a swollen neck that apparently was caused by nickel in a necklace and another picture of someone's hand swollen in response to nickel allergens. Nickel is in many metal products that we use daily in our household.
It looks like each of us, has a different level of sensitivity to these metals too. It's good that some medical professionals are recognizing this. If your doctor suspects that your dental amalgam fillings are giving you problems, please let me know if you have any other questions. I'd be glad to help.
Also, I would think that your lip problems could be caused by a virus too, but I'm assuming that you already have reviewed that with your doctor. What makes you question your dental fillings? Have you not been able to find out what is causing this problem?
allergy to nickel-in fillings? 
