What is Dental Filling? How is it done?

Most of the fillings used today are only attached to the tooth, not sticked. For this reason, dentists take some measures when filling. These precautions are made possible by the preparation of special retaining cavities. When filling, a good cavity is prepared as the main rule; and the previous natural form before decaying is tried to be re-given with the tooth filling.

When choosing a filling, the dentists take following aspects into consideration: the ability to with stand the chewing pressure of the back teeth, being as unnoticed as possible in the front teeth, not harming the teeth and its core. Now, we would like to give you some information about some types of fillings:

1 – Amalgam Filling (Metal Filling):
It is a very durable and economical filling material; but its appearance is not aesthetic. It is prepared by mixing 70% silver, 23% tin, a little amount of copper and zinc powder with mercury. The mixture is poured into the cavity by the dentist and the filling hardens within a few hours. It is the best filling material used today especially for the molar teeth.

2 – Porcelain Cements, Composites:
These are aesthetic fillings (bonding); but they are not as resistant as amalgam. They are mostly used for the front teeth.

3 – Inlays:
Inlays are molded fillings. After the size of the shaped cavity for the filling is taken, it is prepared in gold or porcelain in the laboratory and glued to the tooth. They require a special technique and very precise work.

Amalgam is still the most harmless, longest lasting and cheapest filling material. It is estimated that more than one billion amalgam fillings are made annually. Compared to other fillings, they can be applied easily in a much shorter amount of time.

Filling materials such as porcelain, gold and white fillings are more expensive and require more time and attention. Besides, those except of gold are not as long lasting as amalgam.

Composite fillings are placed into the cavities layer by layer and each layer is hardened with a special light. At the end of this process, the composite fillings are shaped and corrected according to the tooth. All these processes take more time than the amalgam filling process. But they are at least twice as expensive as amalgam.

Composite fillings last for 7 to 10 years, which is close to the life of amalgam. However, in very large fillings the situation is in favor of amalgam.