“Are amalgam fillings banned in the UK?” is one of the most common questions practice owners are now fielding from patients — and the honest answer is: not across the UK, not yet, and not evenly. The picture genuinely differs by nation, and getting it right matters both for patient conversations and for your own compliance. Here is where things actually stand.
The short answer
There is no blanket UK-wide ban on dental amalgam. What has happened is that the European Union banned the use of dental amalgam from the start of 2025 — and because of post-Brexit arrangements, that ban reaches part of the UK but not all of it. In broad terms:
- Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) is not bound by the EU ban. Amalgam remains legally permitted here, subject to the restrictions that already existed (see below).
- Northern Ireland, which continues to follow EU mercury rules under the Windsor Framework, is on a different path: its use is already restricted, and it is heading for a full phase-out.
So a patient who has read that “amalgam is banned” has usually seen a headline about the EU or about Northern Ireland. For most practices in Great Britain, nothing about the legality of placing an amalgam filling changed overnight.
What the EU actually did
The EU revised its mercury regulation to phase out dental amalgam earlier than originally planned, ending the manufacture, export and use of dental amalgam across member states from 1 January 2025. It sits within a wider global direction of travel — the Minamata Convention on Mercury, to which the UK is a party, commits countries to phasing down the use of dental amalgam over time. The EU simply moved from phase-down to phase-out ahead of schedule.
Northern Ireland: restricted now, phased out by 2034
Northern Ireland is the part of the UK where this is a live compliance issue today. Because it remains aligned with EU mercury rules under the Windsor Framework, the EU position applies — but the Department of Health secured a ten-year derogation, so rather than an immediate stop:
- Since the start of 2025, the use of dental amalgam in Northern Ireland has been restricted — broadly, it may only be used for patients resident in the UK.
- A full phase-out is due by 31 December 2034, after which dental amalgam is expected to end in Northern Ireland altogether.
Practices in Northern Ireland should confirm the precise scope of the current restriction and plan for the phase-out as a known, dated obligation rather than a distant possibility.
The restriction that already applied across the UK
It is worth remembering that amalgam use was already partly restricted well before 2025, and that restriction was retained in UK law. Since 1 July 2018, dental amalgam has not been used to treat children under 15, or pregnant or breastfeeding patients, except where the treating clinician considers it strictly necessary on the grounds of the patient’s specific medical needs. That rule still applies in Great Britain today. If your protocols and record-keeping already reflect it, you are most of the way to good practice; if they do not, that is the first gap to close regardless of what happens next.
Your waste and environmental duties have not gone away
Whatever a practice’s clinical use of amalgam, the environmental controls around it remain in force. Practices are required to fit and maintain amalgam separators on their waste water, and amalgam is a mercury-containing waste stream that must be segregated, stored and disposed of correctly under healthcare-waste rules. These duties are part of the same compliance system as decontamination and clinical-waste management, and they are exactly the kind of thing a care regulator expects to see evidenced.
What this means for your practice. If you are in Great Britain, there is no immediate change to the legality of placing amalgam — but the global and European direction is clearly away from it, so it is sensible to plan for a lower-amalgam or amalgam-free future: review your material choices, prepare consistent answers to the patient question, and make sure the existing under-15 / pregnancy restriction is reflected in your protocols. If you are in Northern Ireland, treat the restriction as live now and the 2034 phase-out as a dated obligation to plan around. Everywhere, keep your amalgam separator and mercury-waste duties maintained and evidenced.
Amalgam is one strand of a much broader compliance picture. For the full map of who regulates a UK dental practice and what each body expects, see our complete guide to dental practice compliance, and our ongoing Regulation & Compliance coverage as the phase-out progresses.
This article is produced by The Reliance and reviewed by David Hinckley, a GDC-registered Clinical Dental Technician (GDC No. 150038). It is general information for those running dental practices, not legal, regulatory or clinical advice; the position differs across the four UK nations and is changing, so confirm the current specifics for your nation before acting. See our Editorial Standards.