Preventive Dental Services

Composite Fillings

For over 150 years, cavities were filled with a mixture of metals, including silver and mercury. It was perfectly normal to see dark grey areas in someone's mouth when they laughed.

But today, you can get your cavities, as well as any other smaller hollow areas in your teeth, filled with composite fillings. Composite fillings are made from resins that are matched to your tooth's color - so they become invisible when applied.

Composite fillings also provide an excellent seal on the affected area, so that tooth decay can be prevented. The factors that go into our decision to use composite fillings include:

• The size of the area that needs to be filled
• The location of the affected area in the mouth (i.e., a tooth that is heavily relied on for chewing)
• Allergies the patient might have
• The preference of the patient regarding the use of metals in the mouth
• Whether it is necessary cosmetically to have a tooth-colored filling
• Caught early enough, cavities can be treated easily and painlessly. If not treated, decay can lead to tooth pain and/or infection, and the tooth would need root canal treatment or extraction.