Long gone are the days when a cavity meant you walked out of the office with a big shiny silver piece right in the middle of your white tooth.  The old mercury based filling material is no longer the standard of care.  Today’s dental composites are a better fit both esthetically and functionally.

Dental composites, or white fillings, are made up of tiny glass ionomers.  Once cracks and decay are removed, these microscopic pieces are bonded to the tooth structure.   They can be custom shaded to match the existing tooth structure and shaped to replace the natural tooth that is lost.  One of the strongest benefits is that they mimic natural tooth properties more closely than their silver ancestors.  The old filling material was metal based and would expand with the introduction of hot and cold – like ice and soup.  Tooth structure does not expand at the same ratio meaning that it does not expand or contract as much as metal does.  As a result the old material could pull away from the tooth structure allowing decay and bacteria to leak underneath.  They also could cause teeth to crack.

With cosmetic fillings, the ratio of expansion is much closer to the normal teeth and the risk of resulting damage is virtually eliminated.  White fillings give a cosmetically pleasing result as well as a better functional match for dental health.