Dentist in Banff Provides Tooth-Colored Fillings

Tooth-colored fillings are an attractive alternative to traditional silver (amalgam) fillings. In addition to blending with your surrounding tooth enamel, white fillings actually restore much of the chewing strength of your tooth and cause less sensitivity than their metal counterparts. Keep reading to learn more about why your dentist in Banff prefers tooth-colored fillings, then schedule an appointment at Banff Dentistry!

An Aesthetic Solution to Decay and Damage

Silver fillings are highly visible against your natural tooth enamel, but the composite resin used in tooth-colored fillings comes with a precise color matching guide to ensure the filling beautifully matches the rest of your smile. Tooth-colored fillings can be used to repair new spots of decay, replace old fillings, and even make minor cosmetic improvements in the front of the smile. With this popular aesthetic solution to your dental decay and damage, even you won’t be able to distinguish your filling from your natural tooth enamel after a while.

Tooth-Colored Fillings vs. Silver Fillings

Compared to silver fillings, tooth-colored fillings offer patients a number of benefits. While they both perform the same function — restoring a tooth from decay or damage — white fillings are a more conservative, natural-looking solution.

• Tooth-colored fillings require less removal of healthy tooth structure, which can make the tooth stronger for years to come.
• Less-invasive procedure can be completed without anesthesia for small cavities.
• Composite resin is highly customizable to match the surrounding tooth enamel.
• Composite resin bonds with the tooth enamel, restoring up to 85% of the tooth’s original strength. Silver fillings are cemented onto the tooth.
• White fillings dry within minutes under a high-powered light. Amalgam fillings take up to 12 hours to fully set.
• Composite resin is less sensitive to heat and cold, reducing expansion and contraction of the filling.
• There is no risk of mercury exposure with tooth-colored fillings.
• If a composite filling breaks, it can often be repaired more easily than a silver filling.

Procedure for Tooth-Colored Fillings

Because it is very important that the tooth remain dry for a successful tooth-colored filling, we will begin the procedure by isolating the tooth to keep away any moisture. Then your dentist removes all decay, reshapes the tooth, and applies a special etching solution to encourage proper bonding between the composite resin and tooth enamel. Then, the color-matched composite resin is placed in layers and hardened under a special light. After each layer has been placed and dried, the filling is shaped to fit your unique bite. A final polish ensures that the filling looks just like your natural tooth. Because the filling is set in just one visit, you can go to lunch right after your appointment! Don’t worry if you feel a little sensitivity immediately after your filling’s placement — that’s completely normal and should subside within a few days.