Many people hide their smiles because of visible decay or dark fillings in their teeth. A simple solution to this problem is white fillings, otherwise known as composite resins. Composite resins are a tooth-colored plastic mixture, with a silicon dioxide fill that can restore teeth to an attractive, healthy state.
Though silver amalgams have been a tried and true filling material throughout the history of dentistry, composite resins represent several advantages over their traditional silver counterparts.
Composite resins are available in a variety of enamel shades and can be blended to match your teeth. This means it would be very difficult to the untrained eye to be able to see that you even have a filling. Second, the placement of composite restorations requires less removal of good tooth structure than amalgam restorations, as they are chemically bonded to your teeth as opposed to mechanically retained like amalgam. This is supportive of our conservative training. The more tooth structure we can preserve, the longer that tooth will last. Finally, small to medium sized composites can last seven to ten years – as long as their silver counterparts!
