Tooth Colored Fillings

What are dental fillings? Dental fillings are restorations that are placed when disease levels or activity has been small or low. So think the first time a tooth has a cavity or maybe replacing an old silver filling. Anyone who has a cavity is a great candidate for a dental filling. The replacement of the old black or silver fillings in teeth is a hot topic amongst patients because, well, who wants black things stuck in your teeth, right. So composite resin is a material developed in the '80s by the dental community. And it is a tooth-colored fill material that is as hard as teeth and once it's placed in a hole and bonded to the tooth and adjusted allows for you to chew comfortably over that area. And it is tooth-colored instead of the old black stuff. Now, there's another benefit of dental composite because it bonds to the underlying enamel and dentin, dental composite works to hold the tooth together where an old gold or silver filling would act to split a tooth apart. And so we oftentimes recommend replacement of a silver filling with a dental composite to help prevent fracture. Or if a fracture is present, we'll instead prescribe a crown to help splint your tooth and maybe a dental composite wouldn't be indicated.