How Do Dental Fillings Impact Your Oral Health?
What Is A Dental Filling?
An example of a restorative dentistry procedure is a dental filling, which is used to restore the surfaces of teeth that have minor fractures, rot, or other damage. The surfaces of teeth can be evened out with filling materials, such as composite, porcelain, and silver amalgam, to improve biting and chewing.
What Are The Causes Of Cavities?
Tooth decay, a gradual process, is what leads to cavities. Here is how dental decay progresses:
- Your teeth are covered in a transparent, corrosive layer called dental plaque. It results from eating a lot of carbohydrates and starches and neglecting correctly brush your teeth. When carbohydrates and sugars aren’t removed from your teeth, bacteria start feeding on them, and plaque soon forms—Tartar forms when plaque on your teeth hardens beneath or above your gum line (calculus). Tartar acts as a barrier for germs and makes plaque removal more challenging.
- Acids remove the minerals in the hard, outer enamel of your tooth. Cavities start as microscopic openings or holes in the enamel caused by this corrosion. The germs and acid can reach the dentin, the next layer of your teeth, if portions of the enamel disappear. Compared to enamel, this layer is softer and less acid-resistant. This also leads to tooth sensitivity.
- The bacteria and acid that cause tooth decay keep spreading along the inner tooth material (pulp), which is home to nerves and blood vessels, as tooth decay progresses. The bacteria causes swelling and irritation of the pulp. Inside a tooth, there is nowhere for the swelling to grow; thus, the nerve is squeezed and hurts. Even the bone outside the tooth root may experience discomfort.
How Do Dental Fillings Work?
- To increase the patient’s comfort throughout the surgery, your dentist will administer local anesthesia to the area around the damaged tooth to numb it.
- Following this, your dentist needs to clean the decayed area and its adjacent parts. Your dental care professional can remove the damaged areas using a laser or a dental handpiece. The region is cleaned with an acid gel to get rid of any leftover bacteria or debris. The cavity is subsequently filled by applying the filling material to the area.
- It is necessary to isolate the damaged tooth before inserting a composite filling to prevent interference from moisture during the composite restoration’s bonding process. Your dental care professional will use several adhesives at this stage. He will also use a specialized bonding light to solidify the composite material.
- The dental filling procedure can be completed by polishing the completed tooth.
How Do Dental Fillings Affect Your Dental Health?
Dental fillings can improve your dental health in several ways.
- Can Save Your Original Teeth
- Dental fillings are an alternative that saves teeth since they are used to heal any decay-related damage to a tooth. This is crucial since teeth were built to endure a lifetime. All dental filling materials are available to help strengthen a tooth when it is weak due to decay. Patients may feel confident when selecting any option they desire because several types of fillings are available.
- Prevents Further Decay
- Dental fillings help to avoid the development of any tooth decay and enhance general oral health. Additionally, fillings stop decay from returning to the same region of a compromised tooth. The dental professional will remove any decayed tooth portions from the patient’s mouth before inserting a filling. The patient can now experience a healthy tooth once again.
- Can Correct A Bad Bite
- Damaged teeth can lead to a bad bite. This can be caused by having a cracked tooth or an extensive cavity that alters the general form of a tooth. Indirect fillings are frequently used to treat bad bites, regardless of the cause. Direct fillings refer to fillings placed directly on the tooth by a dental expert. In contrast, indirect fillings are manufactured in a separate laboratory and bonded to the patient’s tooth at a later appointment.
Fillings are a therapeutic process that helps in repairing any decayed teeth. The decay must be eliminated and securely replaced with dental fillings since the presence of decay indicates poor oral health. After reading the facts on dental fillings above, it is clear that they can enhance one’s oral health. Get in touch with us if you have further queries.
