Dental fillings are incredibly common dental procedures, and most people in America receive at least one throughout their lifetime. Tooth decay begins as a cavity, and cavities do not get better without professional intervention. Fillings are used to stop tooth decay in its tracks and restore the tooth to most of its original strength. Here are some signs that you need a filling and what you should know about the different types available.
What Is Tooth Decay?
Humans naturally love the taste of sugar because it is full of easily digestible chemical energy. Unfortunately, teeth-destroying bacteria love it for exactly the same reason. Eating sugary foods covers your mouth with residue and debris that will provide these bacteria with everything they need to multiply and excrete acid. Acid is the worst thing for your teeth after blunt-force trauma, and the situation isn’t helped by it already being present in any given soda you might enjoy.
When these bacteria begin eating their way through your enamel, you have a cavity. If allowed to continue, a cavity will lead to further tooth decay, toothache, tooth loss, and possibly secondary infections like blood poisoning.
How Can I Know if I Need a Filling?
Regular dental visits can catch any cavities in their early stages before you could have noticed them on your own. However, here are a few signs that you might need a filling:
- Your teeth are sensitive to certain foods, especially ones that are sweet, sticky, sour, hot, or cold.
- When you floss, the string tears or breaks whenever you clean a particular tooth.
- A previous filling is loose, cracked, broken, or missing.
- Food keeps getting stuck between certain teeth.
- You see a dark spot or hole in your tooth.
- Your tooth feels rough.
- You experience sharp, throbbing pain in your tooth when you bite down or chew food.
What Kind of Filling Should I Get?
Although metal-based amalgam fillings have faithfully served dentists and patients alike for centuries, they can leave a lot to be desired in terms of appearance. Recent decades have seen the rise of tooth-colored fillings that use composite resin instead of metals. These fillings are virtually indistinguishable from natural tooth structure and can be placed in a single brief visit. Since they contain no metal and are mercury-free, they cannot cause further damage to the teeth by significantly expanding or contracting and do not cause irritation in patients with allergies or sensitivities to metal.
Needing a filling is nothing to be ashamed of, and thanks to advancements in dental technology, metal-free tooth-colored fillings are now widely available. Consulting with your dentist will give you the final verdict as to whether you need a filling, and getting it done sooner will secure the best possible result.
About the Practice
White Clay Dental Associates has brought the highest-quality dental care for fifty years to patients in Newark, DE. Under the leadership of Drs. Donald T. Bond and Timothy D. Ganfield, the skilled staff is dedicated to keeping dentistry effective, comfortable, and affordable. Services include general, cosmetic, emergency, and restorative dentistry such as tooth-colored fillings. If you think that you need a filling, contact the office online or dial (302) 731-4225.