All About Dental Fillings

Does it seem like you're constantly trying to remove bits of food between your teeth? Do you often have an unpleasant taste in your mouth even if you've just brushed your pearly whites? Have you been feeling tooth pain or a pins-and-needles sensation when you eat or drink something cold, hot, sweet, or sour?

If you nodded yes to one or more of those questions, you may be experiencing the effects of tooth decay.

Fortunately, a dentist providing dental fillings in Batavia, IL, can save your teeth. The sooner you see one, the less time you'd likely spend on the dentist's chair. If you only have minor tooth decay, treating and fixing it can take less than an hour!

To that end, we created this guide on what you need to know about dental fillings. So, please read on to discover how they work, their benefits, and your options.

What Are Dental Fillings and How Do They Work?

Dental fillings are restorative dentistry services for minor to moderate tooth decay. They consist of materials that can safely replace the diseased parts of a decayed tooth.

Here's a quick breakdown of how these tooth repair options work and what to expect from the procedure.

Thorough Cleaning

The exact steps vary based on the type of filling you choose, but the preparation is the same. Your dentist in Batavia , IL, will thoroughly clean your pearly whites. This gives them a better view of your teeth, allowing them to spot the signs of carries.

If your dentist finds a tooth with a cavity, they'll let you know and prepare it for a deeper cleaning. They'll use a numbing agent or anesthesia to help you feel more comfortable throughout the procedure.

Removal of Decay

Once the numbing agent or anesthesia kicks in, your dentist will remove the decayed parts of the tooth. They must be thorough with this step to ensure no bacteria remains inside the tooth before it gets filled and sealed. They'll also disinfect the tooth as part of the process.

Placing the Filling

This is where the steps may vary depending on your chosen filling.

If it's an amalgam or composite filling, your dentist can prepare or place them right after disinfection. They'll put the material inside the pre-treated tooth, shape it, cure it, and let it harden. Finally, they'll polish it to remove excess bits and ensure you feel comfortable biting.

Amalgam and composite fillings typically take less than an hour to place.

If you've opted for porcelain or gold, your first appointment will likely involve getting a temporary filling. Your dentist will then ask you to return for a second appointment.

During your second appointment, your dentist will remove the temporary filling. They'll replace it with your custom-made porcelain or gold filling.

What Are the Benefits of Getting Dental Fillings in Batavia, IL?

The primary benefit of dental fillings is that they can help prevent cavities from progressing. The sooner they get placed, the less tooth structure that cavity-causing bacteria can damage. As a result, they can save decaying teeth and reduce your risks of losing your pearly whites.

Stop Decay at Its Tracks

The mouth is home to the oral microbiome, a community of microorganisms, including about 1,000 species of bacteria. Some are beneficial, helping you generate saliva. Saliva moistens the mouth, aids digestion, and protects the teeth and gums.

However, many other bacteria in the mouth are behind dental plaque formation.

Dental Plaque 101

Dental plaque is a sticky, germ-filled substance that continuously coats the teeth. It forms when you eat or drink anything containing starch or sugar, such as bread, rice, cookies, candies, juice, soda, and milk.

The bacteria in plaque feed on the sugars and starches in those foods. Whenever they do, they produce acids that eat away at the enamel, the tooth's hard outer surface.

How Dental Plaque Causes Cavities

Continued and frequent exposure to acids causes the teeth to lose more enamel. This loss of minerals often leads to the teeth developing white spots. These discolorations are early signs of tooth decay.

Tooth decay at this stage is still reversible with fluoride supplementation and treatments. In sufficient amounts, this mineral can help rebuild lost tooth enamel.

You can get fluoride from tap water and fluoride-containing toothpaste or mouthwash. If these aren't enough, you can get professional fluoride treatments. This usually involves the direct application of fluoride-containing products on the teeth.

However, if the tooth decay has already progressed, the enamel may have become too weak. This lets the bacteria easily penetrate it and cause permanent tooth damage. The longer the decay process goes on, the deeper and the wider the holes it can make.

Dental Fillings to the Rescue

Dental fillings can help prevent decay from worsening as their placement involves removing existing infections. This removal prevents bacteria from destroying more of the tooth.

The filling materials also serve as a seal. By closing the existing holes, new bacteria won't be able to get into the tooth and wreak more havoc.

Say Goodbye to Tooth Decay Symptoms

Mouth pain is one of the most common oral problems that over four in ten U.S. adults experience. It's often a symptom of tooth decay that an estimated 80% of Americans will develop at least once by age 34.

Tooth decay can cause pain once it gets deep enough to reach the dentine. The dentine is the softer, bone-like substance beneath the enamel. This softness makes it easier for disease-causing bacteria to penetrate.

When bacteria damage the dentine, they can reach the pulp, the tooth's innermost layer. The pulp contains sensitive blood vessels and nerves. So, once bacteria enter this layer, they can cause tooth pain.

At this point, your dentist may recommend root canal therapy first. This allows them to remove the infection affecting the innermost parts of the tooth. After this, they can seal the tooth with a dental filling to stop more bacteria from getting inside.

After completing treatment, your painful symptoms should disappear.

Reduce Risks of Tooth Breakage Due to Trauma

Dental trauma is any injury to the teeth, gums, soft tissues, and supporting bones in the mouth. They often result from direct, significant force or impact on the mouth.

Research shows that most dental trauma cases result from falls. Other primary causes are sports, bicycling incidents, and motor vehicle crashes.

Untreated dental decay can make the teeth more susceptible to damage, though. After all, it eats away at the tooth, compromising its integrity and structure. So, if there's a cavity present and something with enough force hits the mouth, it can be enough to break or chip the tooth.

Indeed, just biting down on a tooth with severe decay can be enough to damage it. And while dentists can still restore broken or chipped teeth, the process can sometimes be more complex. That's why it's always better to have tooth decay removed and cavities filled promptly.

Keep Your Pearly Whites for Longer

Tooth loss is more common in older people since aging can weaken bones and make them less dense. These effects extend to the bones supporting and anchoring the teeth.

The immune system can also become weaker as a result of aging. This can contribute to tooth loss caused by gum disease and infections.

That doesn't make tooth loss a normal or inevitable part of aging. Nor does it only affect older people.

Tooth loss can happen to anyone with untreated dental cavities, regardless of age. It's one of the primary reasons millions of U.S. adults have at least one missing tooth.

To help you keep your natural teeth for life, make it a habit to floss and brush for at least two minutes twice daily. Saying hello to your dentist once or twice a year also helps, as this lets them spot early signs of oral disease.

For example, if your dentist finds a small cavity, they can immediately treat and fill it to stop it from progressing. Because if allowed to go on, the tooth can become so decayed it may already require extraction.

Prevent More Severe Infections

The longer tooth decay goes untreated, the deeper the bacteria can get into the teeth and gums. This can give rise to more severe infections, such as dental abscesses.

A dental abscess is when pus forms and fills the inside of the teeth, gums, or bones that anchor the teeth. It can happen when more bacteria enter the pulp from tooth cavities. It's a highly unpleasant, painful experience that can make the face swell and cause fevers.

Don't wait for that to happen. Instead, contact a dentist in Batavia, IL, as soon as possible for a dental checkup. This way, the dentist can immediately find and treat the infection and seal the cavities.

What Are Common Types of Dental Fillings?

Amalgam and composite resin are two of the most common dental filling options today. Other types, such as porcelain and gold, are also available. We've described each one below to help you make an educated choice.

Amalgam Fillings

Amalgam fillings are the most affordable and the oldest type of dental fillings, used for over a century. They've saved the pearly whites of hundreds of millions of people. They're also affordable and durable, lasting about ten to 15 years.

About half of the weight of amalgam fillings consists of liquid (elemental) mercury. The rest are other metals, including silver, copper, and tin. These "ingredients" give amalgam fillings their characteristic silver looks.

Composite Fillings

While amalgam fillings can fix teeth, their color can make people self-conscious. This can keep you from smiling as widely as possible, which is a shame, as smiling can do wonders for your health.

In that case, you might want to consider composite fillings. These are dental fillings made of acrylic resin and powdered glass fillers. Dentists can use them to create tooth-colored fillings.

So, a tooth restored with composite resin can look like the rest of your natural teeth. That makes composite fillings more aesthetic than amalgam.

Composite resin is slightly more expensive than amalgam fillings, though. Despite that, it's an excellent choice, especially if you want to avoid as much exposure to mercury as possible.

Granted, studies have confirmed that amalgam fillings are safe for most people. However, some may have to avoid them as they may be allergic or sensitive to mercury or the metals in amalgam fillings.

Porcelain Fillings

Porcelain fillings consist of oxygen and silicon compounded into non-crystalline glass materials. Like composite resin, they can also mimic the color of the teeth. Your dentist may recommend them over composite resin for larger cavities.

Porcelain costs more than amalgam and composite as its placement takes longer, often requiring two visits.

On the first visit, your dentist will prep the tooth and make an impression. This impression will be the basis of the customized porcelain filling. Your dentist will also apply a temporary filling on the pre-treated tooth.

On your next visit, the dentist will replace the temporary filling with the porcelain one. As long as properly placed and cared for, your porcelain filling may last for ten years or more.

Gold Fillings

Gold fillings contain real gold but aren't 100% gold. They're a type of alloy that may include copper, silver, platinum, and palladium.

Gold fillings often cost the most out of all dental fillings but are also the most durable. They can last at least 20 years if placed and cared for correctly! Some people also prefer them for their aesthetic appeal.

Like porcelain, gold fillings also usually require at least two visits.

Save Your Teeth With Dental Fillings

Without dental fillings, millions worldwide would have lost their permanent teeth.

So, if you believe you have tooth decay, please see a dentist as soon as possible. The sooner you do, the sooner you can say goodbye to tooth pain and have your teeth restored.

If you need dental fillings in Batavia, IL, we encourage you to say hello to Dr. Ronald Murphy and his warm, compassionate team.

Contact Ronald A. Murphy, DMD, now to schedule your appointment ! Dr. Murphy will happily help you get your dazzling, healthy smile back.