A dental filling is an invaluable procedure for keeping teeth healthy. Circle Drive Dental, a general dentist serving Rochester, offers insight into why dental fillings are necessary and how best to care for them.

First and foremost, caring for your dental filling or fillings requires good oral hygiene. This means flossing, brushing with a fluoride toothpaste, and using an antibacterial mouthwash, all at least once a day at minimum. Caring for your fillings also requires regular visits to your dentist for a cleaning and general checkup.

There’s a possibility that during a cleaning, your dentist might discover that the filling is cracked. In this event, x-rays are taken to confirm whether the filling needs to be replaced. Also, tooth pain is not uncommon the first 2 - 4 weeks after receiving a filling. Sensitivity to hot/cold foods, pressure, and air are the most common symptoms. The best thing to do is continue practicing proper oral hygiene, and if necessary avoiding any foods or activities that exacerbate the pain.

If your pain doesn’t subside after a few weeks, your dentist might apply a desensitizing salve to the tooth, or recommend a desensitizing toothpaste.

When treating a cavity, our dentists in Rochester remove the decayed portion of tooth and “fill” the open spot. This is the most common use of dental fillings, but it’s not the only one. Fillings are also useful for repairing broken or cracked teeth, and for fixing teeth that have worn down unevenly, i.e. from habits like tooth-grinding and nail-biting.

Whereas mercury was the filling material of choice for decades, today there are several different materials available. The most traditional of these is a silver amalgam, which combines silver with mercury, zinc, tin, and copper. Gold and porcelain fillings are popular too. Tooth-colored composite resin fillings are also common, as is tooth-colored plastic. One of the newer materials is glass ionomer, which contains glass particles. The choice of filling material comes down to cost, insurance coverage, and the location/extent of decay.

All of these materials are instrumental in protecting a patient’s teeth from further damage/decay, and helping to create a healthy oral environment. Each material has its specific strengths which further confirm the necessity of a filling:

Gold fillings last 10 - 15 years or longer, and don’t corrode. Gold also easily withstands strong/prolonged chewing. And on a more subjective note, some patients prefer the look of gold over amalgam silver.

Amalgam silver fillings are just as durable and strong as gold, and usually outlast resin composite. Also, in most cases silver fillings are less expensive than tooth-colored composite varieties.

Many patients prefer tooth-colored composite fillings because they can be closely matched to existing tooth color. Also, composites have the ability to chemically bond with the existing tooth structure, which strengthens support. Moreover, in some instances using a composite filling means that less of the existing tooth needs to be removed prior to inserting the filling.

This type of filling has much in common with composite fillings, with an added bonus: glass ionomer filling release fluoride to help guard against further tooth decay.

In addition to providing dental fillings of various sizes and compositions, the dentists at Circle Drive Dental offer years of expertise with dental crowns, teeth whitening, dental bridges, and many other forms of oral care. Contact us today to learn more about our services in Rochester, MN.