Your Options For Mercury-Free Dental Fillings At Our Epsom Clinic
People are increasingly avoiding amalgam teeth fillings for both aesthetic and health reasons
For a very long time, anyone attending a dental practice with tooth decay would probably be given a standard filling to restore the tooth. For a long time, these fillings have been made of a substance known as amalgam.
This is made from a combination of metals including silver, copper, tin, zinc, and most controversially, mercury.
Why is mercury a ‘controversial’ ingredient? Well, the fact is that mercury is a toxin that can lead to quite serious health problems. It is used as part of an amalgam filling to bind the other alloys together to form a solid mass. Despite some people having concerns about their safety though, amalgam fillings have been deemed to be safe to use in this form by the General Dental Council.
Although deemed safe, there are still drawbacks to the use of this material in fillings. Despite its strength, which you would expect with it being made from metal, amalgam is certainly not an aesthetically pleasing solution as it is a dark colour which is easily seen when people with these fillings either laugh or yawn. The visibility is even more so when a fillings is used on one of the more visible front teeth.
While there has been an agreement to phase out the use of amalgam, largely due to concerns about the leaking of mercury into the environment, many patients of Clocktower Dental Implant & Facial Centre have already taken the opportunity not to use this material to restore their teeth and choosing instead, more aesthetic alternatives that we will take a look at now.
Aesthetic tooth restorations
Many tooth restorations have long been produced in a colour to match the natural teeth. These include crowns, veneers etc. Fillings have perhaps been slower in being produced but there are now a number of ways to restore a tooth more discreetly than if amalgam were used.
Before we look at the type of available fillings, it is important to remember that you should take your dentist’s advice where tooth restoration is concerned. You may have set your heart on a white filling, for example, but too much damage to the tooth may mean that a crown will be needed instead.
Types of aesthetic dental fillings
Tooth coloured fillings
These are perhaps the best known filling for people who want their teeth to look as natural as possible. Made from a combination of plastic, silica and glass particles, white tooth fillings can be made to match the colour of your own tooth which helps to make them much less visible than if they were a more general ‘white’ colour. They also have the advantage of being bonded to the teeth which means that less of the natural tooth often has to be removed. Whilst amalgam fillings shrink over time, leaving tiny gaps around them where further decay can occur, tooth coloured fillings do not do this and therefore further decay is less likely to reoccur.
One concern with earlier versions of this material is that it didn’t offer the strength that amalgam did. Modern versions though offer a much higher degree of strength and are suitable for the majority of fillings. Where larger cavities have formed, you may be offered alternatives such as inlays and onlays.
Inlays and onlays
These are mostly used on the rear teeth where a large cavity has formed. The rear teeth come under much heavier pressure than the front teeth as they are used to chew and grind the food. They are also more difficult to keep clean, especially if you don’t brush at the back of them or use dental floss. Because more strength is needed on these teeth, inlays or onlays can sometimes be used.
Both of these are made from impressions that are taken of your teeth. The restorations are then produced to fit into the cavity, or on to the prepared tooth, depending on the nature of the damage. They are usually made from porcelain as this is both a strong material and one that can be made in a natural tooth colour.
GI fillings (glass ionomer)
This is basically a dental cement that has good bonding properties. It can also be used to help prevent further decay too. Unfortunately, it is not very strong and is therefore not used on biting surfaces but can be used to help protect non biting areas such as the neck of the tooth.
Gold fillings
Whether gold fillings should be described as ‘aesthetic’ is probably down to a matter of taste. They are certainly not very discreet but they are a look that appeals to some people. In addition to providing (for some) an appealing look, they are, of course, very strong. As you would expect though, they are also the most expensive type of dental filling currency available and are therefore not a popular choice with our Epsom patients.
If you need to have a filling, whether due to damage or decay, the dentists at the Clocktower Dental, Implant & Facial Centre will be pleased to discuss your options with you. To make an appointment, please call us on 01372 720136.