Want to Know the Benefits of Tooth-Colored Fillings: Here’s Five of Them
You visit your dentist after a year for an exam and cleaning when you receive the dreaded news you have a dental cavity. You may feel like running away from the dentist’s office, fearing the dental drill and other procedures when having the cavity filled. Your dentist may comfort you, saying they can provide tooth colored fillings that are barely noticeable.
You may think about the need to get tooth-colored dental fillings when the issue can comfortably be resolved with teeth whitening. However, it would be best if you understood teeth whitening merely removes discoloration from the surface of your teeth and is not suitable for cavities. Treating cavities is not a cosmetic dentistry procedure and requires the dentist to give you anesthesia before drilling the tooth to remove the pollution. The filling procedure requires the expertise of a dental professional. It is accomplished within an hour, especially if you have a cavity filled in your mouth’s anterior region.
Best of all, you avail of five benefits when you decide to have tooth-colored fillings as suggested by the dentist. They are:
Quick Treatment
The procedure for filling a cavity with tooth-colored fillings is quick and painless. The time required for filling a couple of holes is fewer than 60 minutes. During your appointment for treating the cavity, the dentist numbs your tooth and gums with local anesthesia to ensure you don’t experience any discomfort. The dentist proceeds with the treatment after the numbing medication has taken effect and removes the pollution from within your tooth before cleaning it. The tooth-colored resin matched to the natural shade of your teeth is directly applied into the hollow space left by the cavity. The dentist shapes the composite material to help you maintain your natural bite and hardened with a specific curing light. During the filling, the dentist works efficiently to limit the treatment time.
Aesthetically Pleasing
Tooth-colored fillings blend with your surrounding tooth structure to ensure no one realizes you had a cavity repaired. The scenario was different earlier when a silver amalgam of gold fillings often made it apparent that you had a cavity filled. You can now laugh, speak, and yawn, and everything noticeable in your mouth are merely your beautiful teeth. You may even hear questions about whether you recently had dental veneers in Phoenix to enhance the appearance of your teeth.
Durable
Tooth-colored fillings can last for a decade or more with proper dental care. You must brush your teeth twice daily, floss at least once, and visit dentists for exams and cleanings every six months instead of a year. It helps to avoid detrimental dental habits like chewing on pens, pencils, fingernails and avoiding ice, hard candies, and other similar objects that can chip or dislodge your fillings.
Tooth-Colored Fillings Help Retain Sufficient Tooth Structure
Tooth-colored fillings comprise composite resin that bonds to the teeth. This unique feature ensures the dentist does not have to remove significant tooth structure as they would do with silver amalgam or gold fillings. It enables the dentist to treat your cavity by maintaining sufficient tooth structure intact conservatively.
No Fears of Mercury
Silver amalgam fillings contain mercury, which is toxic. Although the toxicity of silver amalgam fillings is disputed and clarified by the FDA and the ADA that amalgam fillings are undoubtedly safe, fears still exist in some people’s minds. It is why many patients request mercury-free fillings whenever they are advised to have cavities filled. If you have similar fears in your mind, you can dispel them right away by choosing tooth colored fillings over any other option.
Having your tooth filled after it is affected by a cavity is essential because leaving it untreated merely aggravates the problem and leaves you needing extensive and expensive treatments. Choosing a tooth-colored filling allows you to maintain the natural appearance of your teeth without displaying to everyone that you had a cavity filled recently. Leave the hole untreated, and you may soon need root canal treatment or extraction of the tooth needing replacements with artificial teeth. When you calculate the overall costs of having a tooth colored filling or neglecting it, you will realize the difference is enormous. We are confident you will consider the benefits of tooth-colored fillings and prefer to have them earliest instead of waiting for the cavity to expand.