A dental filling is a dentist’s procedure to remove the decayed part of the tooth, after which that portion where the decay was previously is “filled.” This dental treatment procedure is used to fix broken, cracked or worn-out teeth from misuse like tooth grinding and nail-biting. Materials like composite and porcelain trim or onlay are embedded into the decayed or damaged tooth to restore it to its unique size and shape.
Tooth filling can be either a dental inlay or a dental onlay which is broader to cover the entire tooth-biting surface.
Why you need Dental Fillings?
Dental decay can be very difficult to notice, particularly in its early stages, since the symptoms are few. Yet, there are a few indications to prompt you to visit your dentist, including:
- sensitive teeth
- damage to earlier filling
- dark spots in the teeth
- sharp or throbbing pain
Decaying in the tooth breaks up your teeth to make holes in them. This decay, when left untreated, can prompt severe dental health issues and perhaps call for a medical procedure to fix. While tooth fillings are utilized to treat several decay problems, your dentist will best advise if you require the filling or otherwise.
Benefits of Dental Fillings
A dental filling’s vital advantage is stopping the advancing tooth decay by fixing the harmed tooth and restoring its original capacity and appearance. Fillings offer a barrier against bacteria to improve small areas of decay and forestall further decomposition. An additional advantage of fillings is that while supplanting a tooth’s harmed bit, they protect the more significant part of the tooth structure. A filling can typically be put during a solitary visit to your dentist and is less expensive than dental crowns, which are used to fix extensive decay.
The tooth filling process
After evaluating your case and deciding that tooth filling is the best treatment for your condition, your dentist will book you for treatment. Tooth filling could take between thirty minutes to an hour to finish all the required dental work.
Most dentists will begin by first applying numbing medication around the affected area before using a local anesthetic. The anesthetic used diminishes the needle’s pain to create a much comfortable experience for the patient.
When the tooth area is numb, the dentist will proceed to eliminate any decay with a drill and seal the region with a filling. To guarantee proper bite function, the dentist will check in with the patient to ensure a normal bite feels like usual. The dentist will then scrape down some portion to the filling to restore bites to normalcy.
There may be additional procedures by the dentist in the case of colored-tooth filling. After taking out the decayed part of your tooth and cleaning the region, your dentist will apply the tooth-colored material in layers. A special light is then used to harden or “cure” every layer. After completing the multi-layering procedure, your dentist will shape the composite material to the ideal fit, take off any excess material and refine the last restoration.
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