Are you fed up with your metal filling disrupting the shade of your teeth every time you smile and laugh? Or maybe you’ve been struggling with symptoms of tooth decay (pain, sensitivity and bad breath), and you need a filling to prevent more damage?
White fillings (also known as tooth-coloured fillings) are the discreet alternative to amalgam metal ‘silver’ fillings. But do they have the same lifespan and are there any other advantages to choosing a tooth-coloured filling over a metal filling, aside from their aesthetic properties.
Let’s kick off with a very general idea of lifespan.
You can expect a white filling (made from acrylic composite, ceramic or glass ionomers) to last for between 3-8 years.
But there are a couple of factors that determine how long your white tooth-coloured filling will last for:
Maintenance)
Teeth that have been filled are still vulnerable to decay, so it’s important that you care for your filling. Brushing and flossing carefully between each tooth (including between the filled tooth and its adjacent tooth) is essential.
As your filling is made from composite, it is prone to damage from foreign objects (think pens and ice!)
Location of the filling)
The teeth responsible for most of your chewing (molars) are likely to need their fillings replace more frequently than those that aren’t. These are the teeth that withstand more of the forces in your mouth, so it’s completely normal to expect to have to replace fillings at the back of the mouth after a few years.
Fillings towards the front of the mouth on teeth like premolars and incisors have the potential to last for longer.
It’s important to remember that they may stain, and that this staining will be visible when you smile (staining isn’t such a big issue when your filling is at the back of the mouth). You may want to replace fillings that make up the ‘social six’ teeth (the teeth that are most exposed when you smile) more often than those at the back for this reason. Better still, you can limit teeth-staining food and drink, and drink plenty of water to avoid staining your filling in the first instance!
Techniques used)
White fillings are extremely technique-sensitive requiring strict moisture control, therefore precise care and preparation is required in the areas where the damage is under the gum area.
Our dentists here at Denpure are incredibly diligent when preparing your filling, understanding that the techniques used and care taken in the preparation. stages will influence its lifespan. We will never rush this process, and the extra time and care taken will benefit you in the long term.
Very.
Only someone with bionic eyesight, binoculars at close range (or a dentist looking through dental loupes) will be able to tell if you have had a tooth filled with a white filling!!
They are matched to the shade of your tooth, so they’re entirely inconspicuous.
One of the (fairly obvious) drawbacks of silver metal fillings is how obviously they sit in your mouth. With many of us more conscious of our teeth than in the past, this is quite a turn-off for patients these days.
Once they’re placed directly into the chewing surface of the tooth, they blend in pretty much seamlessly with the healthy portion of your tooth.
Yes.
In fact, at Denpure we’ve seen a significant uptake from patients looking to swap out their silver fillings with a white tooth-coloured filling (even in cases where the silver filling is not yet damaged).
We are very happy to replace silver fillings with white fillings for patients, whether it be in the interests of aesthetics, or function (due to damage), or both.
Silver fillings contain mercury, which is now known to be a potential harm to human health. The good news is that white fillings don’t contain any controversial or poisonous chemicals, so you can have the peace of mind that you are making a choice that’s in the interests of your oral health.
If your old silver metal filling is starting to grate on you every time you look in the mirror, get in touch with us for a no-obligation consultation to replace it for a white filling.
We look forward to future-proofing your teeth with a discrete alternative to a silver filling!
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