Dental Fillings
Seattle, WA
 Let’s face it. There is a lot about fillings to love. Lots of good things come in a filling. Think about that for a minute. All sorts of fillings come in pies. Our personal favorite? Well, we’re having a disagreement whether peanut butter pie or apple pie is the best. Cakes can have yummy fillings too - how else would we have lava cake? There are fillings in snack cakes and fillings in candy. We are particularly fond of a Twinkie or two.
Did you know that if you eat too much of one type of filling, we may need to do another type of filling. Our fillings, unlike those delicious fillings, aren’t sweet. Sometimes, we have to put a dental filling in your tooth to save it and protect it from further damage. If you aren’t sure how fillings protect your teeth, keep reading. Queen Anne Family Dental will to teach you about the tooth-saving benefits of fillings.
What Are Fillings?
We make fillings from composite material, which makes them more difficult to spot in your mouth. We used to make fillings out of either silver or gold not so long ago. That’s because people used fillings as a way to decorate their teeth. In the good old days, fillings were made out of silver amalgam, which means they contained mercury. Over time, people realized that mercury was a poison, and so it was discontinued. No one uses mercury in fillings anymore.
Fillings are used now to fix a tooth that has been infected with tooth decay. Tooth decay happens when the bacteria that are always present in your mouth makes a hole in one of your teeth. This happens most often when you are not brushing or flossing the way you should. If you brush or floss your teeth regularly, you brush away a lot of the bacteria. Not brushing allows bacteria to create holes in your teeth, which will continue to grow. Eventually, the cavity will continue into your tooth pulp, which will cause you pain. If we don’t take steps to stop the cavity, it will eventually lead to a loss of the tooth and possible jawbone issues. If the bacteria goes into the jawbone you may experience misalignment with your jaw and issues with your temporomandibular joint (TMJ). If you have severe signs of gum disease we will also perform a scaling and root planing to remove plaque and scrape infected areas.
There are also indirect fillings, commonly known as inlays and onlays, that also protect teeth from decay and damage. They are similar to crowns and veneers in that it involves putting a protective layer over the tooth. However, veneers are the only treatment that actually whitens your smile while the others are typically tooth-colored.
How Do Fillings Help?
Fillings can fix a spot on a tooth where it has been weakened due to cavities. When you come and visit us with a cavity, we first will drill out your cavity. Your tooth will be numbed along with your gums and the area around it, so you shouldn’t feel any pain. When we drill out the cavity, we then fill the hole back in with composite material. The material fixes the cavity and strengthens the tooth, which should protect it from further cavities.
Are you having problems with one of your teeth? Maybe you need help with a filling? Give Queen Anne Family Dental a call at (206) 424-4450. We understand that you might be nervous about fillings, and you may not want to get a filling done. We can talk to you about fillings and ease your mind. We can make sure that fillings aren’t painful to undergo, and they will help you have less pain in the long run. Give us a call today.
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