Tooth-Colored Fillings in Bethlehem, PA

Tooth-colored fillings repair a decayed or cracked tooth with composite resin matched to the shade of your own tooth, and I place them at Always About Smiles, our Bethlehem, PA dental office. They bond to the tooth rather than sit inside it, so less of the healthy tooth has to be taken away to hold one in.

Metal fillings sit in the tooth and are held there by shape alone. When someone eats hot or cold food, the alternating temperatures can create gaps around the metal fillings, which can lead to cracks in the teeth. A composite filling is bonded to the tooth instead, so it holds the remaining walls together rather than wedging them apart. I work mercury free — replace worn out cracked black fillings and smile with confidence.

The area is numbed, the decay is removed, and then the part that matters: we apply a special glue-like bonding agent that penetrates the tooth's surface. It's like a super glue soaking into a sponge. The composite goes in as thin layers, each one hardened with a curing light, then shaped to the contours of your tooth and polished. I check it as you bite together and adjust before you leave.

A filling replaces what decay took, and there's a point past which that isn't enough. When a tooth is beyond being able to restore it with a simple composite bonded filling, a crown may be recommended to save the tooth — and between the two sit porcelain inlays and onlays, which rebuild a large chunk of a back tooth without covering all of it. I'll tell you which of the three your tooth needs and why.

A tooth-colored filling is composite resin — a tooth-shaded material bonded into a tooth after decay or a crack has been cleaned out. It's placed in layers, hardened with a curing light, then shaped and polished so it disappears into the tooth. It contains no mercury and it preserves more of the natural tooth than a metal filling does.

A filling is priced by how many surfaces of the tooth it covers, so a small one costs considerably less than a large one wrapping three. You'll have the figure before I start. We're fee-for-service, we file your claim for you, we're good at it, and we'll push to get you reimbursed. Financing is available.

One appointment, usually thirty to sixty minutes for a single tooth, and there's no laboratory stage, so the tooth is finished when you sit up. Two or three small fillings on the same side can often be done in the same visit, which saves you a separate appointment and a second round of anesthetic.

I buffer the anesthetic chair-side before the injection, which adjusts its pH from about 3.5 — the same as lemon juice — to something closer to your body's own 7.4. My technique also includes a numbing gel at the injection site beforehand, and OraVerse afterward to return the area to normal sensation rather than leaving you numb through lunch. Raising a hand stops everything.

8-10 years on average, and how many depends on the size of the filling, the location in your mouth, and how hard you grind. Under our Peace of Mind Limited Dental Warranty, composite fillings are warranted three years against fracture with normal use, when you follow our recommendations for exams, cleanings, and treatment.

A filling, where enough sound tooth remains around it to hold the composite and take the chewing load. Where a back tooth has lost a cusp or carries a large old filling with thin walls left, a porcelain onlay rebuilds the missing part in one piece and takes the force off those walls. I decide that once the decay is out, and tell you first.