TREATMENTS

Tooth Colored Fillings

Advances in modern dental materials and techniques increasingly offer new ways to create more pleasing, natural looking smiles. Researchers are continuing their often decades-long work developing esthetically attractive materials, such as ceramic and

plastic compounds that mimic the appearance of natural teeth.

Today, more patients ask their dentists about white fillings because they want their teeth to look natural when they laugh, talk

and smile. White fillings, also called composite fillings, are made from tooth-colored materials that restore the natural

appearance of a decayed or previously filled tooth. Because they blend well with tooth enamel and don't look like fillings,

your dentist may recommend them if the teeth to be restored are near the front of your mouth.

A composite filling usually requires only one visit, during which the tooth is prepared and restored. An advantage of

composite fillings, as compared with other dental restorations, is that they require less of the healthy part of a tooth to be

removed to hold the filling in place. This is due to composite materials' ability to bond to teeth adhesively.

The procedure for a composite filling may take a little longer than those for other types of fillings, because after the decay is removed, the tooth must be kept totally isolated from saliva. The dentist carefully applies an adhesive followed by several thin layers of the tooth-colored composite. Once the filling is in place, it is chemically hardened, or cured, for less than a minute with a special light.