Fillings are used to restore areas of your tooth affected by decay. At Mintie Family Dentistry, we use composite (tooth-colored) materials to "fill in" the surface of the tooth after all decay has been removed.
Reasons for Fillings
|Restoring small to medium sized cavities
|Restoring a chipped anterior (front) tooth
What Does a Filling Involve?
First, Dr. Kloenne will answer any questions you have and will apply anesthetic to the tooth requiring the filling. Then Dr. Kloenne will thoroughly remove the decay that is present and prepare the tooth for the composite filling.
What Are Composite Fillings?
Composite fillings are tooth-colored to blend in with the remaining natural part of the tooth. The term composite refers to the actual filling material, which is a mixture of glass or quartz filler in a resin medium. Composite fillings provide good durability and resistance to fracture in small-to-mid size restorations that need to withstand moderate chewing pressure. In addition to being more aesthetically pleasing, composite fillings are "bonded" or attached with adhesive directly to the tooth surface. This often allows for a more conservative repair than traditional fillings with their inability to bond to the tooth structure.
Composite filling material is also commonly used to repair front teeth that have chipped or worn. Where possible, aesthetic bonding of composite material to front teeth is generally much less expensive than veneers or crowns. However, bonding typically does not last as long as veneers or crowns.