Filings / Restorations

Fillings- at Gentle Dental in Charlotte and Potterville MIFillings help prevent further decay of your teeth. Materials for fillings include porcelain, gold, composite resin and amalgam. We don’t have mercury in our dental practice. Some people still have silver or mercury filling in their mouths, and they result in a tooth structure that is weaker. We use porcelain inlays and tooth colored restorations to create natural looking fillings that also add strength to teeth.

The disadvantages of silver fillings:
Silver filings wear down and can become weak and break. They make your teeth weaker. Also, with age, the silver filling metal expands and contracts, and can split or break. Silver fillings can also contain up to fifty percent mercury- which corrodes, leaks and causes stains to your gums and teeth. We will replace your silver fillings with tooth colored and non-mercury ones.

Tooth-colored restoration advantages
Tooth-colored restorations, made of composite have many advantages.  A tight fit can be made with resin onlays, and keeps the tooth intact and much stronger. Such restorations can be used when much of the tooth structure has been lost.

The tooth-colored restorations made of resin contain fluoride.  Fluoride can help prevent tooth decay, wears like your real teeth, and does not require gum line placement.

Process of getting a filling
We can replace your silver fillings with tooth- colored fillings.  These restorations require 2 appointments.
For your 1st appointment, the old filling is removed. Any additional decay is also removed at this time. decay. We make an impression of your teeth and send the mold to the lab. At this time, we put a temporary onlay on the tooth. The lab works to create a resin, naturally looking model of your teeth.

At the 2nd appointment, we remove the temporary online, and apply a conditioning gel to your tooth. Bonding cement is applied to the tooth with a high intensity light to bond the resin to your tooth. We then polish your tooth. The result is a stronger tooth with a natural look and feel.

Contact Gentle Dental of Potterville and Charlotte, MI to schedule your next dental appointment.