Dental Fillings
Even when maintaining healthy oral habits like brushing and flossing, you may still need a dental filling to treat a cavity. Using a filling helps preserve and protect your original tooth structure and keep bacteria from getting into your tooth and causing further decay and infections.
What is a Dental Filling?
Dental fillings are a simple and effective solution for decay and cavities that develop from bacteria in your teeth. They are affordable and thanks to modern innovations in dentistry, are quite unnoticeable when compared to your natural teeth. If properly cared for and maintained, a dental filling can last for years.
Why Do I Need a Dental Filling?
As your teeth develop and your mouth matures, it’s normal to see some wear and tear on your teeth. Even if you brush twice a day, floss and see your dentist regularly, bacteria can still build up on teeth in the form of plaque.
An excess of plaque then leads to tooth decay in the form of cavities, or holes that develop in your teeth. If left untreated, a cavity can become severely infected down to the soft tissues of a tooth. At this point, your dentist will recommend a more intensive procedure like a root canal or a dental extraction.
Cavities can happen to any patient at any age, and thankfully are very treatable with a simple tooth filling–when caught at the right time, of course. Examining your teeth for decay is a crucial part of preventative dentistry and standard hygiene appointments, so make sure you’re seeing Dr. Lily Zhang and our team at 3-D Dental, PC Cosmetic & Dental Implant Center.
What Happens During a Cavity Filling?
When treating a decayed tooth, our team will first remove the decayed and infected material from the inside of the cavity. Depending on the level of decay and how big the cavity is, we may apply a local anesthetic around your tooth to numb it.
We will deep clean and sanitize the inside of your tooth so the infection doesn’t spread further into your soft tissues beneath the hard dentin of your teeth.
From here, we will apply the filling and harden it with a special light. We have three different types of filling materials available at 3-D Dental, PC Cosmetic & Dental Implant Center. To properly align your teeth, we will also shape and mold the filling so your bite is normal.
The different types of filling materials include tooth colored fillings like resin and porcelain and metal amalgam. Fillers vary in composition and cost.
Metal amalgam fillings are best for use in back molars, as they are composed of the strongest materials. Amalgam applies easily to a tooth as a putty, but it hardens quickly.
Porcelain fillings are specifically designed and created by our team to match both the natural shape and color of a patient’s teeth. They are the least noticeable as a filling material and blend seamlessly in with your natural smile. Porcelain fillings also have high durability, like amalgam.
The most popular type of filling–resin–is also the quickest to apply and the most affordable. Resin fillings only take one visit to complete and are also designed to match your natural teeth color. However, resin is not as durable as porcelain, so you are unable to get this filling on a back molar.
Need a Dental Filling in North Andover?
Are you looking for cavity treatments near you? At 3-D Dental, PC Cosmetic & Dental Implant Center, we are pleased to serve the patients of North Andover and the surrounding Essex area. We also offer emergency dentistry and urgent dental care for patients experiencing severe pain.
Call our office today for an appointment: 555-555-5555.
