Beyond Compare

State of the Art Tooth Colored Fillings – Superior Strength & Aesthetics

Amalgam fillings most commonly referred to as “silver fillings” were first invented in the early 1800’s by two French entrepreneurs as an inexpensive alternative to gold fillings. However this material was first denounced by the majority of the dental profession because of its mercury content.

Silver fillings are made up of a mixture of silver, tin, copper, zinc and more importantly 50% mercury. Although mercury is a known toxic substance, whether or not this amount of mercury is harmful to the body is a subject of great controversy. No harm from the mercury in silver fillings has ever been absolutely proven. However, it has never been proved that it is not harmful, either. Some countries, like Sweden, Canada and Germany, have either banned or imposed serious limitations on the use of silver fillings.

Thanks to advances in modern dental materials and techniques, teeth can now be restored predictably with more aesthetic, state of the art tooth colored bonded fillings. There are different types of tooth colored fillings currently available and the type used will depend on the location and the amount of tooth structure that needs to be replaced.

The first tooth colored fillings were introduced in the 1960’s and were confined to the front teeth because they were not strong enough to withstand the pressure and wear generated by the back teeth. Today modern tooth colored fillings have significantly improved in strength and can be successfully placed in the back teeth and more importantly they wear the same as the natural enamel on our teeth.

Tooth colored fillings are more than just for looks they have distinct advantages over silver fillings. Tooth colored fillings are non-toxic because they contain no mercury and are stronger because they actually bond directly to the surface of the tooth. Research shows us that while silver fillings reduced the tooth’s strength by as much as 50%, properly bonded tooth colored fillings can return teeth to 97% of their original strength. This major advancement in dentistry has forever changed the way dentists are able to restore broken and decayed teeth.

Conservation of the natural tooth structure should be the goal of every dentist today. The shape and size of your silver fillings is not necessarily the size of your cavity. Silver fillings require special undercuts and grooves in order for the filling to stay in your tooth, resulting in a much larger filling. However, tooth colored fillings are very conservative to the surrounding healthy tooth structure because the retention does not come from special grooves and undercuts but from the bonding process resulting in the most conservative filling available today.

Tooth colored fillings, when properly placed by a trained dentist, can provide a healthy, conservative, strong and aesthetically pleasing filling option to restore your tooth!

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