Fillings

Teeth are most often repaired or restored using filling materials following deterioration as a result of decay, accidental damage or wear and tear. Your dentist will advise which would be the most appropriate filling material to use in each particular clinical situation. There are broadly three categories of filling material- amalgam, composite resin or glass ionomer cement.

Whenever possible composite resin would be the filling material of choice and using these white filling materials gives huge advantages:

• Fantastic tooth colour matching to become invisible
• Strong affinity to bond to tooth enamel prolonging life and reducing filling size  
• Modern resins have much greater strength, wear resistance and polish beautifully
• Allow for dentist to reshape teeth and redesign the smile

When placing composite resin fillings, in order to achieve a strong bond, it is important to keep the tooth relatively dry. In order to facilitate this the dentist may use a material called ‘rubber dam’ covering over the nearby tooth forming a waterproof seal while the filling is being placed. A bright blue light is used to ‘cure’ or set the resin so that it is fully set when you leave. An orange shield is also used to protect the eyes of the dental team from the bright setting light and an orange filter is often used over the operator light as this will give the dentist time to shape the fluid resin to the correct shape before curing.