Dental Fillings

If you just found out that you have a cavity, you may be wondering how we plan to treat the issue. Fortunately, through routine cleanings every six months we are more likely to detect these issues when they are only a slight inconvenience rather than a serious problem. If you notice sudden tooth pain, tooth sensitivity, or a dark spot on your tooth then you’ll want to come in for an evaluation before your bi-annual cleaning. Having a cavity is no fun, but a dental filling from Houston Robison Family Dentistry in Dalton, GA can restore the tooth after decay has been removed. 

A dental filling uses special material to fill the spaces where decay has been removed to restore the tooth to its nature appearance and strength. While the tooth-colored resin used for a dental filling may also be used for purely cosmetic reasons such as hiding a small discoloration, chip or gap between your teeth, in most cases a dental filling is used to treat a cavity.

If you have a cavity the first thing Dr. Houston and Dr. Robison will need to do is remove the decay. When decay destroys tooth enamel you must come into our practice as soon as possible to remove the decayed enamel so that it doesn’t continue to erode the tooth.  Once we have checked to make sure all decay has been removed, then we will begin to rebuild the tooth using a dental filling.

As you may already know, a dental filling can be made from different materials. Traditionally, dental fillings were made from different types of metals, such as silver. These types of fillings are typically called amalgam fillings because, as the name suggests, they are made from an amalgam of different metals. Although not offered here at Houston Robison Family Dentistry, gold is also sometimes used for dental fillings. As dental technology has progressed, however, the most popular type of dental filling is composite fillings, which are made from resin that can be adjusted to match the color of a patient's natural tooth. These fillings are ideal for restorations in visible areas of the tooth because they are virtually undetectable. 

For purely aesthetic reasons, most patients opt for tooth-colored fillings made from composite resin. If you choose a tooth-colored filling we can choose the shade of the resin to match the tooth so that the dental filling isn’t visible. Of course, metal fillings are still used today because they are more resilient than even tooth-colored fillings and can be a better option for molars and back teeth, which take on more force and pressure from the jaws when chewing and speaking.

If you are getting a composite resin filling we will apply the moldable resin in layers. Each layer will then be hardened immediately using a special dental light. We will continue to apply layer after layer until the tooth is completely filled. Once the last layer is hardened we may still need to trim the filling before giving it a final polish.