White Fillings

If you tooth has dental decay then we can treat the hole by placing a filling. We can either place a silver or a white filling. A silver filling is called an amalgam filling and a white filling is called a composite filling. It is important to treat dental decay as soon as it is spotted to avoid it getting worst. Even if the hole isn’t giving you pain or you can’t notice it, it is important to treat it as if you catch it early you can place a filling where as if you let it get worst this is when more serious treatments are required such as extraction or root canal treatment.

Composite is a tooth coloured material used to fill teeth, composite is made from a plastic and ceramic compound. The NHS will provide composite fillings for your front teeth but you would need to pay privately for a composite filling on a back tooth. The Dentist will discuss all costs with you at your appointment to ensure that you know how much each filling costs and what your options are.

The procedure of placing a composite filling:

The Dentist will clean out your tooth.
The Dentist will then ‘etch’ your tooth, ‘etch’ is phosphoric acid and comes in a blue gel. We then wash the ‘etch’ off your tooth (the Nurse will catch the water and etch with her aspirator).
The Dentist will then ‘bond’ your tooth and cure it with a light. The bond helps the filling material too stick.
The Dentist then places the filling material onto the tooth and builds up until it is a tooth like shape, the Nurse again will cure the material with a light to set it.
The Dentist will get you to rub your tongue over the filling and get you to bite to ensure that it is comfortable; it is very easy for her to alter the filling so that the patient is happy with it.