White Fillings
White fillings, or tooth colored fillings, are dental fillings that restore and mimic the appearance of your natural tooth. When you develop cavities or fractures, tooth colored fillings cosmetically change the color, size, and shape of your teeth.
Advantages of Tooth Colored Fillings (White Fillings)
Much like dental bonding, and dental inlays, white fillings close gaps between teeth, repair chipped teeth, and make teeth appear straighter. If you prefer the absence of metal color on your teeth and prefer the reassurance of non-amalgam materials used in your dental restorations, then the following advantages of white fillings are for you.
- White fillings closely match your natural tooth color and appearance.
- White fillings do not contain mercury.
- White fillings bond to tooth structure chemically and do not require construction of slots, grooves or pins in healthy tooth structure for retaining.
- White fillings bond to your teeth and restore most of the original strength of the tooth.
- White fillings adhere to the front and back of your teeth without compromising aesthetics.
- White fillings replace easily.
Most White Fillings are a Resin Composite
The dental industry introduced tooth colored fillings to the American public in the mid 1960's. Since then, the industry has improved durability, esthetics, and material handling of tooth colored fillings. Today, the most versatile and widely used tooth colored filling is made of a composite resin. To make the resin, dental specialists encase filler particles in a material that bonds together by a durable matrix material. For composite resin tooth fillings, a fluid matrix of an acrylic hardens around glass filler particles to form composite resin.
How do White Fillings Adhere to the Tooth?
Tooth colored fillings bond to your teeth chemically; therefore, the placement of white fillings does not always require numbing the affected area, but if the tooth decay has progressed beneath the enamel layer and into the underlying dentin layer, which surrounds the nerve of the tooth, Dr. Titensor will numb the area for your comfort. After Dr. Titensor removes the decayed portion of your tooth, he cleans and applies a tooth primer to the area. The primer opens the pores in the enamel and dentin.
Applying the White Colored Fillings
Next, Dr. Titensor applies a bonding agent to the open pores and cure the affected area. The curing process prepares the bonding agent to adhere to the white filling material. Then, he places the white filling material inside the tooth. Finally, Dr. Titensor shapes the tooth colored filling material to resemble the natural anatomy of your tooth and uses a strong curing light to harden the tooth filling resin. Once the tooth filling hardens, Dr. Titensor checks your bite to make sure your teeth fit together properly, and he checks to make sure sufficient room remains to floss between your teeth properly. If necessary, he makes bite fit and adjustments, followed by smoothing and polishing of your new white (tooth colored) filling.
