White
Filling

Cavities are one of the most common dental ailments in the world. Not so long ago, there was a time when if a dentist detected decay in a tooth at an early stage, they would clean out the decayed area and cover it with gold or amalgam fillings.

Modern advances in dental materials have allowed patients to choose more aesthetic options, including colored or white fillings.

White fillings are preferred because of their appearance that resembles natural teeth. The composite materials used in today’s tooth-colored fillings are also more durable than earlier versions. You can expect a better bond that holds firmly to your existing tooth structure and a more straightforward procedure.

Dentist of Aventura offers white fillings both as an option to restore a tooth after a cavity is removed, and as an aesthetic choice to replace amalgam fillings. Many people have replaced their amalgam fillings with new restorative materials simply out of concern for their health. Despite their extremely low mercury content, amalgam fillings pose health risks.

The major advantage of white fillings is the aesthetic finish of the restoration. Unlike materials like gold or amalgam, white fillings are available in a plethora of shades to closely match the shade of the tooth that needs to be restored. That means your restored tooth will blend seamlessly with the rest of your natural teeth.

Another important benefit lies in the direct bonding method used to place white fillings. When placing an amalgam filling, the dentist adheres the material to the tooth structure using mechanical retentive properties of the preparation. For white fillings, a bonding agent is used instead. That makes direct bonding between the tooth and restoration possible. It also greatly reduces the amount of tooth reduction required at the preparation stage. As such, the strength of the existing tooth being restored is better preserved, as compared to amalgam placements.

While initial versions of tooth-colored filling materials had problems like sensitivity in the restored tooth – caused by the etching process – and marginal leakage between the tooth and the restorative material, newer composite materials have upped their quality, eliminating both the etching requirements and negating leakage issues. These improvements have resulted in minimally invasive procedures for patients as well as significant reductions in tooth sensitivity.