When you’re happy, you smile. When you’re angry, you grin. In both cases, your teeth could show up. Will you be confident in showing those feelings? If you have white and aligned teeth, yes, you can. But, if you’ve got spaces in your teeth with black silhouettes, you will contain yourself and put on some poker face. With dental fillings, you can smile widely as if you’ve got those perfect teeth. Before you make a decision, check its procedure, benefits and risks in this infographic.
1. Before anything else, you need to understand what dental filling is. It is not a replacement to your tooth. This is simply a material that is bonded to your teeth to cover the holes created by cavities and bacteria. There are two options for dental filling process which are silver amalgram and composite fillings. Silver amalgram has been commonly used because it is less expensive than the other. However, a lot of Americans would opt for colored fillings because it makes the teeth look natural.
2. The process of putting the filling in your tooth is simple. The dentist will clean the tooth, remove all bacteria and cavities. After that, surely, there will be holes which will open your tooth to more bacteria. This hole will be covered by the dental filling which will be bonded in the tooth and its surrounding area. This treatment is preferred because it can be done in one appointment, and the side effects are fewer than other dental treatments.
3. This treatment will take less than an hour if the infected tooth is only one. For those who would prefer colored fillings, expect five years duration for it. If you want to lengthen the life of the filling, opt for silver fillings. Moreover, the cost of the treatment is usually covered by a dental insurance.
4. On the other hand, dental filling is not a risk free procedure. It is possible that a patient can feel sensitivity to hot and cold and sharp pain when biting, chewing and applying force on the tooth. But this could happen a few days or weeks after the treatment.
5. The dental fillings whether it’s silver amalgram or composite fillings have also a wear and tear condition. Since the dentist has removed the damaged areas of the tooth, the synthetic material can’t function the same. A time will come when this material will wear out. Dentists recommend a retreatment after 5 years for composite fillings and after 12 years for silver amalgrams. That could be long enough to compensate the cost you incurred for it.
6. Another risk involved in the use of silver amalgram is its tendency to expand and contract due to varying temperatures. This may damage the structure the surrounding tooth area. Also, it contains mercury but no conclusive evidence proves the health risks of this dental material. Though it is not expensive and can last long, the risk could be dangerous even if it was not proven. For a patient, you should be more cautious and always watch over the treatment you’ve taken.
source: https://www.feltfamilydentistry.com/cavity-expect-dental-filling/
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