Everything You Need to Know About Fillings
If you have to get fillings, you may be feeling nervous, especially if you feel like you don’t know enough about the treatment. Before you head to the dentist, here is everything you need to know about fillings. Feel free to call our office if you have any more questions.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | How Long Do Fillings Last?
Usually, it’s sort of dictated by the size of the filling. Smaller cavities are therefore smaller fillings, and less chance of decay or recurrent decay and breakdown. Whereas, the larger the filling, the more surface area that’s involved, and therefore, the more stress on the filling with the normal functions of chewing, and eating, and etc. Therefore, the filling usually has a greater chance of a need for replacement sooner than a smaller filling or smaller cavity.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Indirect Filling
An indirect filling is a filling that is constructed or fabricated outside of the mouth, which requires the dentist to prepare the tooth and somehow transmit that preparation to the laboratory to fabricate the indirect filling. That can be done with an impression, or now more commonly used is a video image of the preparation, and it is fabricated from that image. Then, the filling is brought back at a subsequent visit, or sometimes at that same visit, and bonded or cemented into the mouth.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Cost of Fillings
A lot of times patients come in with concerns about how much things are going to be, or how much is this going to cost me? A lot of times in dentistry, things or costs – or things basically are by the surface of what’s being done or the size of the filling. Some things cost more than others, whether it be crowns or just direct fillings, such as white-colored fillings, composites, resins, amalgams. We have bridges, implants, a lot of different types of things, and the costs are very different.
I would like to review those costs with the patients ahead of time before we get involved in any sort of treatment, just so the patient is aware of what they need to expect in terms of what they need done and how much it’s going to financially cost them. If sometimes these are out of the patient’s range, there are definitely payment plans that can be discussed with our front office manager to make things a little bit more affordable for people.
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Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Are Mercury Amalgam Fillings Safe?
A lot of times I have patients come in the office and say, “Doctor, I don’t want a silver filling. I don’t want that mercury in my mouth.” I say, well why do you say that to me? Sometimes they read things in the newspaper about the exposure to mercury and the negative health effects on their body. Still, to today’s date, no proven scientific literature that amalgam fillings or mercury fillings are unsafe. It’s still a very good restorative material to use, and in some times we use it. Personally, I do not use it very much but there are some times when it would be required to use that kind of filling material.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Does Insurance Cover Fillings?
Generally, when a patient has a filling done, it is covered by dental insurance because there is a problem with the tooth, there’s decay that’s into the tooth. To restore the tooth to good health, the placement of the filling is a covered dental procedure.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Does Tooth Whitening Affect Fillings, Veneers, or Crowns?
People come in, again, asking about bleaching and we look in their mouth, and we see that they have some crowns in the front of their mouth, some composite fillings, which are the tooth-colored fillings. We also always caution them that the bleach will affect the tooth structure, will lighten the tooth structure, but it usually does not have much effect on, let’s say, a porcelain crown or the composite fillings. A lot of times, if somebody wants to bleach and lighten their teeth, it does then involve redoing either crowns or fillings to match the lighter teeth.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | How Are Fillings Performed?
Fillings are placed in the teeth usually due to decay. Depending on the amount of decay and where the decay is usually dictates what type of filling and how much tooth structure is involved. Basically, we use local anesthesia, which numbs the area of the mouth so that the patient has no sensitivity when we actually remove the decay from the tooth. Then, once the decay is removed, proper cleaning of the preparation, and then using, again, the particular filling material and proper placement of the filling, and there we go.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Is There Pain After a Filling?
Patients should expect some sort of sensitivity after because it is a procedure that is done in the mouth, and it is a surgical procedure. There is sensitivity in the tooth, there is a nerve, and depending on the size of the filling and the type of filling used, patients should expect some sort of post-op sensitivity, but usually it’s very short-lived and not an issue.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Proper Care of Dental Fillings
A lot of times when patients get new fillings, or new crowns, or any kind of work that’s been done in the office, they want to know how to take care of it. I usually will instruct my hygienist to review this with the patient, but a lot of times when things are done for the very first time, I love talking to my patients about it. If my work lasts longer and they take care of it, it’s a two-way street. Everyone’s got to do a little bit in order to make things last.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | Temporary Filling
A lot of times in dentistry, we’re required to place temporary fillings in order to access the tooth again at a later time, and eventually clean out the temporary filling and put a more permanent filling in. A lot of times this is related to root canal procedures, sometimes crown and bridge procedures. It all depends on the certain situation. Need to access a tooth? Again, place a temporary filling to go back in at a later date and eventually place a more permanent filling.
Everything You Need to Know About Fillings | What Are Fillings Made of?
Many people ask about the type of fillings we use. There are composite fillings. A composite is a tooth-colored filling that usually has a resin and then a glass filler, many little microscopic glass particles. This type of filling has many different shades so that we can match the shade of the tooth. There are also amalgam fillings. Amalgam is the typical filling that’s called a silver filling. The makeup of the amalgam filling is usually about half silver and half mercury. It is mixed, and then bound together, and hardens, and becomes a very suitable filling material. That’s usually the two types of filling materials that are out there.
If you have any further questions about fillings, please call our Buffalo dentist office today for a free consultation.
