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When dental decay, cracks, or fractures compromise a tooth’s structural integrity, a filling serves to rebuild its natural form and restore its strength and function.
Until recent decades, most dental fillings were silver-colored and made of amalgam, which is a mixture of metals. While amalgam fillings are long-lasting and durable, today's newer materials offer the benefits of being mercury-free, metal-free, and much more aesthetic. These "tooth-colored or white fillings" invisibly restore the form and function of the involved tooth, while seamlessly blending in with the remaining tooth structure and the entire smile.
Tooth-colored fillings consist of the latest generation of composite resin materials, containing filler particles within a hard matrix when set. Strong and durable, these fillings bond to the surrounding tooth structure as they rebuild a tooth following removal of decayed or damaged tooth structure. Because of their low potential for expanding and contracting at different temperatures, composite fillings are less likely than traditional amalgam fillings to damage the remaining tooth structure over time.
In addition to restoring teeth affected by injury or decay, composite resins can also improve the size, color, or shape of less-than-perfect teeth, and correct minor alignment issues such as spacing.
Patients who come to our office with preexisting silver amalgam fillings, if they chose, can have these fillings safely removed and replaced with the highest quality of biocompatible, metal-free restorations.
