Dental Fillings Types, Materials, Sensitivity, and Allergy Issues

Are there any benefits or downsides of dental filling materials? Indirect fillings — what are they? How safe are silver amalgam fillings? Do silver amalgam fillings cause allergies? If you think the above questions are confusing, we suggest not to because we answer these familiar questions and others in this article.

Various Filling Materials

Dental fillings are individual or a combination of metals, plastic, glass, and other materials helpful to restore teeth. The most popular restoration of fillers is to close a hollow space left in your tooth by the dentist after removing tooth decay. Dental fillings also help repair cracked and broken teeth or ones worn because of misuse by teeth grinding, nail-biting, et cetera.

Materials Helping Make Dental Fillers

Materials that help make dental fillers include gold, porcelain, silver amalgam containing a mixture of silver, tin, zinc, and copper, and composite resin containing plastic and glass materials to appear tooth-colored.

The location and severity of the decay, the prices of the filling material, your insurance coverage, and the recommendations for the best filling for teeth in Farmington, NY, determine which variety of filling will best address your needs.

Benefits and Downsides of Various Filling Materials

Benefits

• Gold:

  Gold fillings are incredibly durable, lasting 10 to 15 years, and appealing to some as an aesthetic solution.

• Silver Amalgam:

  Also a durable option, silver amalgam fillings last for 10 to 15 years and are inexpensive than composite resin.

• Composite Resin Fillings:

  Tooth-colored composite resin fillings closely match the color of your surrounding teeth and bond your natural tooth, providing the support it needs. Tooth-colored fillings help repair teeth besides filling cavities and don’t need extensive tooth structure removal.

• Porcelain Fillings:

  Durability is the name of porcelain fillings that remain in your teeth for 15 years or more. In addition, they are also stain-resistant to composite resin fillers.

Downsides

• Gold:

  generally unaffordable and require multiple visits to dentists for placement.

• Silver Amalgam:

  These fillers need extensive tooth structure removal to make sufficient space to hold the filling. The filler creates a greyish hue to the neighboring tooth structure and may increase the risks of cracks and fractures because of their susceptibility to expansion and contraction. In addition, they are allergic to some people.

• Composite Resin:

  if looking for durability, composite resin is not a favorable option because it lasts only five years, can chip or break depending on the tooth’s location, and costs twice the price of silver amalgam.

• Porcelain:

  the cost of porcelain fillings is similar to gold fillings.

Indirect Fillings

Indirect fillings are the same as composite resin or tooth-colored fillers, except they are customized in a dental laboratory instead of receiving them directly from dental fillings in Farmington, NY. Indirect fillings also need multiple visits to dentist’s offices. They are an option when you don’t have sufficient tooth structure to support a regular filler, or your tooth is not extensively damaged to require a dental crown. Inlays and onlays are the most popular indirect fillings you can have to restore your damaged tooth.

Sensitivity Issues of the Getting Dental Fillings

Tooth sensitivity is a common problem after getting a dental filling. You experience sensitivity in your teeth to pressure, air, temperatures, and sweet foods. The sensitivity subsides by itself in a few weeks, making it essential to avoid the cause of the sensitivity. Painkillers are generally not required to manage the problem.

You can contact the Farmington dentist if the sensitivity doesn’t subside within 2 to 4 weeks. They might recommend using a desensitizing toothpaste, applying a desensitizing agent, or suggesting root canals for relief.

Can You Be Allergic to Silver Amalgam Fillings?

If you have received a tooth filling near you with silver amalgam as the filler, you might experience sensitivity rarely. Silver amalgam fillings contain mercury, a metal considered a neurotoxin. The mercury in the filler triggers an allergic reaction similar to skin allergies. If you experience such reactions, the possibility of you having a history of metal allergies is possible. After confirming the allergy, the Farmington dentist provides alternative restorative material for your tooth.

Dental fillings from Mark V DiMartino, DDS, to restore decayed or damaged teeth are provided after ascertaining your dental and general health. Consider getting tooth fillings from this practice if you need dental fillers to restore your teeth without confronting complications.