Restoring teeth – white fillings
Don’t let the idea of noticeable fillings put you off of treatment. White fillings Ormskirk have gone through a transformation from costly inlays and onlays to being made from an affordable resin. Let’s look into how they work.
The goal of dental reconstruction
All dental reconstructions are a compromise between two goals. The first is the return of functionality, and the second is aesthetics. Most teeth that require work also produce significant discomfort, and resolving the suffering is usually part of emergency care and comes along with stabilisation of whatever underlying condition initially caused the damage.
Aesthetics are the secondary goal of restoration; this is entirely justified since any aesthetic improvement would be rapidly undermined by active decay or be of little use if it came along with a restricted capacity to eat or talk.
Metal amalgam fillings
Metal amalgam is the standard filling material and approved NHS treatment. It has a very long history of clinical use, and it is a safe and effective treatment but heavily leans towards restoring function, with little consideration of aesthetic impact. When it comes to cost and proven clinical effectiveness, metal amalgam certainly can’t be beaten, at least until the very recent development of composites in dentistry.
Composites
Composites are a blend of materials whose properties complement one another, making the final material a hardy, cream-coloured resin. Composites have been experimented with in dentistry for a long time, but the most recent and wide-reaching development to come from composite materials is UV-cured resin.
The initial development of UV-cured resins was as a bonding agent to hold veneers in place. These resins were shown to be highly effective and largely replaced dental cement and other adhesives.
Once the resin was applied, it would rapidly enter any cracks or crevices and then smooth the surface of the enamel. It would do the same to the internal surface of the porcelain veneer. A UV light was then used, penetrating the thin veneers and chemically altering the resin to cure it. The curing process could be controlled by altering the intensity of the light.
By mixing UV resin with ceramic and polymer particles of different shades and translucency, we end up with filling material for teeth that can be customised in our clinic and tailored to each patient. So, it is now possible to make seamless white fillings Ormskirk widely available to our patients. This is a big step forward compared to inlays and onlays, which are partially integrated prosthetics that have to be individually made for each patient before being inserted into the tooth.
There is also the potential for larger structures to be built out of successive layers of UV-cured resin, as the fully cured product can be easily smoothed and buffed into a fine lustre.
Joining our clinic
If you have any further questions about white fillings Ormskirk or think they may be helpful to you or a family member, please get in contact with our team at Parbold Dental. We are currently accepting new patients and would be happy to answer any of your queries.