Flawlessly matched fillings that restore strength while preserving the natural beauty of your teeth.
Once a tooth cavity is identified, the most common procedure to alleviate the situation is to repair the tooth with a composite filling. Composite fillings are made of tooth-colored plastic resin reinforced with a powdered glass element. This resin can also be used to repair broken or chipped teeth. In the past, amalgam (a metal alloy largely made of silver or mercury) was the most widely used filling material, but because more of the natural tooth had to be removed, this type of filling is no longer viable. Many dental offices now remove amalgam fillings and replace them with composites.
The first step in this process is the evaluation and tooth shade selection. Next, a local anesthetic is applied to the area to be treated, immediately followed by a numbing agent introduced by hypodermic injection. Once the tooth and surrounding area has been anesthetized, we use a drill to remove the decayed part of your tooth. When this step is complete, we carefully clean and dry the area to be filled in. More extreme cavities require tooth shaving at this point. Afterwards, we etch and bond the tooth, and begin filling and layering the area with the composite material. Next, a special light cures and sets each layer, and this step is followed by shaping, contouring, and polishing.
Getting a tooth filled is not on anyone’s list of favorite things to do, but rest assured that Dr. Castellanos will make every effort to make this as seamless a process as possible. We will answer any questions you may have beforehand, make you comfortable during the procedure, and provide the needed information and tools to ensure that you do not have to repeat this process anytime soon. Some patients may experience a sensitivity to cold and heat on their filled-in tooth, but this side effect is only temporary.
