White Composite Fillings
Tooth coloured fillings- traditional old amalgam fillings leave the teeth dark and liable to crack and are very unsightly. Modern bonded fillings of either enamel like composite or porcelain reproduce a natural appearance and function.
- Most people have fillings of one sort or another but today, because we are much more conscious of our smile, we can choose a natural looking alternative – the composite or tooth-coloured filling.
- The main advantage of composite fillings is their aesthetic appeal, they look like teeth. They are not always suitable for very large fillings , when a crown or a porcelain inlay may provide much better long term restoration.
- Tooth coloured fillings bond chemically to your tooth and can make it much stronger than filling with conventional amalgam (silver/metal) where the amalgam can act as a wedge over a long period of time and produce cracks in the teeth. Tooth coloured fillings are in fact used to help bond cracks together produced by amalgam fillings.
- Some patients prefer tooth coloured fillings because they are unhappy about the mercury content in silver fillings. We can replace your existing amalgam fillings with tooth coloured fillings in some circumstances. Your dentist will advise you.
- The life expectancy of your composite filling can depend on the depth of cavity and its position in the mouth; your dentist is best positioned to advise you.
- Composite fillings are more difficult to place than silver fillings so may take your dentist 15-20 minutes longer to complete and because they are considered to be a cosmetic treatment, they are not available on the NHS and must be paid for.
