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Home / General - Routine Fillings

Dental fillings

• We prefer to place beautiful white fillings using the finest materials
• Decayed, broken, or chipped teeth can be filled to look like new
• Filling teeth is not painful with new local anaesthesia and filling materials

Fillings and restorations may be required in decayed or fractured teeth, or to replace old or worn fillings. The two basic types of fillings are the silver-mercury amalgam filling which is easy to place and is reasonably long lasting, and the composite resin white filling which is more demanding to place and is tooth coloured.

Another choice of restoration for very large cavities is the inlay or overlay that can be made of composite resin, cast/carved/built-up porcelain, gold or brass. The dental technician at a dental laboratory generally manufactures these. The inlay is cemented into the tooth to replace a large amount of lost tooth, while an overlay covers the tips of some or all of the cusps of the tooth to protect weak or compromised cusps. Inlays and overlays are also used to correct or accommodate patients with deep or heavy bites. Resin and porcelain inlays and overlays are not cemented into the teeth, but are bonded with the tooth structure forming a “monoblock” which provides strength by forming a solid bonded unit between tooth and filling. Metal inlays are stronger but are not as beautiful.

Advantages: Silver fillings are easy to place, have a proven track record, are reasonably priced and are easy to maintain. All dentists are well versed in the use of amalgam.

Composite fillings are natural looking, their preparation is more conservative as the filling bonds with the tooth, resulting in less tooth needing to be removes to retain the filling. The filling is instantly hard so there is no setting time required before it is able to be used.

Inlays allow more natural tooth material to be retained than crowns, are easier to prepare and are extremely hard wearing.

Disadvantages: Silver fillings do not bond with the tooth, are grey when placed but oxidise in the mouth to appear black, expand minutely continually over the life of the filling sometimes resulting in breaks, fractures or splits of the teeth with large old amalgam fillings. Amalgam fillings also have internal stress cracks and fractures that are not detectable until they break.

Composite fillings are not as easy for the dentist to place as the tooth has to be absolutely dry all the time that the filling is being put into the tooth. These fillings need to be properly cured and highly polished or they discolour or disintegrate with time, making them less long-lasting. There is sometimes heat sensitivity and postoperative pain from the curing properties of the filling material that may take a while to resolve.

Inlays require two appointments to allow time for the restoration to be made at the dental laboratory. Metal inlays are cemented into the tooth and are not bonded to the tooth. Parts of the natural tooth are still exposed to the rigours of the mouth. Inlays are fairly expensive.