Composite Resin Dental Fillings

If you have a cavity in a tooth, broken fillings, mercury fillings, or amalgam fillings, Composite Resin fillings are well worth discussing with your dentist.

Tooth fillings coloured to look like a natural tooth are known as Composite Resin Dental Fillings, and are made of a plastic dental resin. Composite Resin Dental Fillings are strong, durable, and make for a very natural looking smile.

Most of us have had amalgam fillings (silver) or gold filling restorations. Some amalgam fillings contained mercury and were often called mercury fillings. Metal fillings were effective, but very conspicuous and tended to blacken in colour over time.

Before                        After

Mercury fillings or amalgam fillings can easily be removed and replaced with far more attractive coloured fillings.

Your dentist will give you a local anaesthetic to numb the area. The dentist then prepares an access to the decayed area of the tooth and removes the decayed portions. This is accomplished with traditional drills, micro-air abrasion or even with a dental laser. With a composite resin filling, your dentist will preserve more of the natural tooth as the composite resin can be bonded to the tooth in thin layers. If your tooth's decayed area is close to a nerve, a special liner will be used to protect the nerve.

A special dental material is then used to open up the pores of your tooth's dentin and roughen up the surface of the exposed enamel. This achieves a better and stronger bond. The bond resin is applied to adhere the composite to your tooth. This material is made of the same dental resin as the composite however it is much more fluid. This layer is then hardened and cured with a very bright light.

Composite resin fillings are applied in thin layers, and slowly built up to form the complete filling. A bright dental light will harden each layer before the next is applied.

Once your filling is completed, your dentist will use a special paper, called articulating paper, to adjust the height of your dental filling and ensure that your bite remains correct. Your tooth is then polished.

If such a filling is not going to be enough to protect your damaged tooth, or if your tooth enamel is thin and will easily fracture, or if your tooth has had a root canal that weakened your tooth condition, your tooth may require additional protection such as a crown.

There are no known health risks of receiving composite fillings. Composite resin dental fillings were created as an alternative to traditional metal dental fillings.

Composite resin fillings last about six to twelve years or more, and the procedure usually takes just one visit to your  dentist.  

Composite resins may also be used to enhance the appearance of any tooth with a tooth bonding procedure. The composite resin will strengthen and enhance the natural tooth structure as it does with use as a dental filling.