Dental Filling
A dental filling comes in handy when you have a hole in your teeth. It can also be used in taking care of dental damages like a chipped tooth. When left unchecked, cavities in the teeth become bigger as time goes by. This means if you can notice them earlier and deal with them, you might not be dealing with dental issues much later. This is one reason regular check-ups are vital.
In the absence of any form of treatment, a chipped tooth or a cavity can lead to the loss of tooth in extreme conditions. It could also teeth fractures, infections, bad breath, and toothache.
How Do You Teel it’s Time to Get a Dental Filling
The need to fill your tooth has nothing to do with age. Adults, as well as young children, may need to fill their teeth. You could have terrible pain in your tooth, are extra sensitive to cold or hot food, or feel a sharp pain when you bite food. You could have even observed that food gets stuck in a bad tooth.
Why You Might Need to Fill Your Tooth
You Have a Decayed Tooth: This is perhaps the most prominent reason you might need to fill your teeth. After meals, there could be starches and sugars on your teeth. The presence of these sugars could cause plagues when bacteria feed on them. Plague contains acid and these acids soften and destroy your enamel. This leads to small holes that end up becoming bigger.
Acid Erosion: Some drinks and foods contain acids and these acids could wash off your enamel coating. Furthermore, medical conditions such as hiatus hernia or reflux could also cause the enamel to wear out.
Chipping: Your teeth could get chipped when you chew something hard or after an accident. When this happens, the inner region of the teeth is exposed and this could cause erosion with time.
Attrition and Abrasion: This is the wearing out of the teeth. It usually occurs when you brush very roughly.
What Are The Available Types of Fillings
There are various treatments and the damage your teeth have gone through will determine the ideal treatment for you. The dentist will walk you through the available options;
Amalgam: This filling type is made from a blend of copper, tin, and silver. Amalgam does not wear out easily. So, this makes it ideal for filling cavities in your back teeth. Additionally, they can last about 20 to 40 years if you treat your teeth properly. Amalgam fillings work for everyone. Nonetheless, there is a likelihood that your dentist will advise you to get an alternative to amalgam.
Composite: Composite fillings are also known as white fillings. Although white, composite fillings can be made to match your teeth’ colour. Since they have a natural appearance, they are good for filling cavities in the teeth that are visible as you talk and smile.
Overlays and Inlays: If you might not get the best results from a standard filling, you might need to get an overlay or inlay. Overlays and inlays come in handy for teeth with large surface areas. Overlays help with the tooth’s shape. Inlays, on the other hand, fill the hole in the tooth. Inlays and overlays can be built from porcelain, composite, metal. If you want to settle for a filling that is practically invincible, you might want to go for porcelain.
When dealing with a tooth with a damaged centre or a deep tooth cavity, you might have to make use of root canal treatment. This way, you can avoid taking the teeth out. Root canal treatments are also known as ‘root canal fillings’ and they should not be mistaken for standard fillings.
What is the Next Stage after a Filling?
After having a filling, your cheek, gum, lips, and tongue will feel numb for a period because of the local anaesthetic. Before this feeling wears off, you might struggle to talk, drink, and chew. With the return of your sensation will come some tingling. At this point, to avoid biting yourself and also destroying your new filling, you might not want to chew with only the side of your mouth that is unaffected.
You may feel extra sensitivity to heat or cold in your teeth about a week after getting a filling. If you keep feeling this sensitivity after one week, you must get in touch with us instantly- this could be because of issues surrounding your nerve and this might need some treatment.
How to Avoid Dental Fillings
One very good way to fix tooth cavities is through the use of dental fillings. They could also eliminate pain in the tooth at the same time keeping the tooth from decaying further. Nonetheless, averting tooth fillings is also better. Getting advice from a dentist or dental hygienist can help you achieve this.