Tooth Filling
At Mahar Dental, our goal is the same as yours - a healthy smile that you can be proud of. A big part of keeping your teeth healthy is detecting, diagnosing, treating, and most importantly, preventing cavities. Cavities are places on your teeth where the bacteria that live within your mouth have eaten through the protective layering of your teeth known as the enamel. Once through the enamel, the bacteria known as plaque can infect your tooth with a cavity. It is our goal to detect and treat cavities with fillings.What are dental fillings?
Dental fillings are what we use to restore your teeth after we remove the infection from your tooth. We have to fill your tooth so that it will not be infected further and so that your tooth maintains it's structural integrity. We use two different materials to place fillings: amalgam, and composite. Both of these materials are unique and serve a purpose.
Amalgam Fillings
Everyone is familiar with amalgam fillings. They are the silver or metallic colored fillings that you occasionally see placed in molars. Amalgam fillings are named because they are made of an amalgamation of different metals including silver, tin, mercury, and copper. While mercury is present in amalgam fillings, the ADA and FDA have deemed them safe and the mercury within them as an extremely low threat to health.
Amalgam fillings require that a decent amount of the tooth be removed to be successful. Because they must be large to be successful, amalgam fillings will sometimes require us to remove parts of your tooth that are healthy and not infected.
Composite Fillings
Composite fillings are also sometimes called tooth colored fillings because they are made to match the coloration of your teeth. We mix a composite compound in our office to closely match the color of your tooth out of small particles of glass, plastic, and a special resin. Once mixed, composite resin is claylike in texture so that we can mold it into the appropriate shape to fill the cavity site.
Composite fillings offer are slightly more expensive than amalgam fillings, but the expense is often worth it. The composite fillings can be much smaller than their amalgam counterparts, allowing us to leave more of your natural tooth when removing the infection.
We use the composite material to produce dental bonds as well. Dental bonding allows us to alter the look of your teeth in a lot of useful ways. If you dislike the way your teeth look because they are slightly crooked, spaced awkwardly, or have cosmetic imperfections like cracks or chips, we can fix them with dental bonding. This is a process that is quick, painless, and produces much value for our patients.
Make sure to schedule a cleaning and dental examination at least once every 6 months so that we can stay on top of your oral health and help to prevent cavities from forming!
Please call us today at (315) 766-2770 to schedule an appointment. We care about your smile and can't wait to see you!
