White Fillings

Dental composite restorations (tooth-colored fillings) are now the most common way to restore tooth lost due to decay and minor fracture.  The technology of dental composite resins has advanced to the point where they offer numerous advantages over dental amalgam (silver) restorations.

Advantages of Composites

• Aesthetics: One significant advantage of dental composite over older materials such as amalgam is improved aesthetics. Composites come in a wide range of tooth colors matching your natural tooth color, allowing near invisible restoration of teeth.
• Bonding to tooth structure: Composite fillings bond micro-mechanically to tooth structure. This strengthens the tooth’s structure and restores its original physical integrity as well as preventing the restoration from dislodging.
• Conservative preparation: The fact that composite fillings are bonded directly to the tooth means that unlike amalgam fillings, there is no need to create retentive features destroying healthy tooth structure. In order to achieve the necessary mechanical retention to retain an amalgam filling, a significant amount of healthy tooth often needs to be removed in addition to the decayed portion whereas preparation for a dental composite restoration requires only the removal of the decayed tooth structure.
• Fewer tooth fractures: Dental amalgam, like all metals, expands and contracts significantly with changes in temperature.  This can lead to cracking and fracture of tooth structure over time.  Dental composites do not expand and contract to the same extent and because they are bonded to the tooth structure tend to protect against tooth fracture.
• Versatility: Composite fillings can be used to repair chipped, broken or worn teeth which would not be repairable using amalgam fillings.
• Repairability: In many cases of minor damage to a composite filling, the damage can be easily repaired by adding additional composite. An amalgam filling would likely require complete replacement.
• Reduced quantity of mercury released to the environment: Composites avoid mercury environmental contamination associated with dentistry.