It seems that every person knows what dental filling is. However, only in general terms. Let's try to figure out what this procedure is going on.
Dental filling begins with the doctor doing anesthesia to save the patient from pain. After that, he carefully removes all affected tissues of the tooth. This stage is very important because it is enough to leave at least insignificant caries residues - and after a maximum of a year the filling will have to be changed. If earlier the quality of caries removal directly depended on the doctor’s experience, now modern technologies allow to accurately estimate its quantity using special detectors that are applied to the tooth. Thanks to them, it is not necessary to remove obviously more tissues from the teeth, so that probably there are no tissues infected with caries left.
After removing diseased tissue, the doctor isolates the tooth from moisture (because the fillings must be dry during installation) with the help of special devices (rubber damask cofferdam, dental wedges or retraction floss ). And only after carrying out all these manipulations, the doctor begins to do dental fillings directly.
What dental fillings are there?
When a person turns to dentistry with the question of how much dental filling will cost him, he still does not think about which filling he will put, and that the price of the filling depends on this choice.
Firstly, fillings are divided into temporary and permanent. Temporary, as the name implies, are set for some period. This is necessary so that the dentist determines whether the nerve is damaged or in order to put medicine under it. Permanent fillings are placed for at least several years, and ideally for decades.
Permanent fillings are made of various materials.
1. Metal. They are made of metal alloys with mercury. It is believed that tooth filling with such fillings is very reliable, especially if the alloy is of high quality (with silver). Such fillings cost 20-30 years, unless, of course, another caries center is formed nearby. However, the installation of such seals takes a lot of time, because they dry out for about 3 hours. Another drawback is the visibility, you can’t put such a seal on your front teeth.
2. Cement. They also vary in composition. The most common are phosphate and glass ionomer. Phosphate fillings can now safely be called a relic of the past. They are strongly abraded, fall out and do not adhere well to the edges. Their service life rarely exceeds a couple of years. Therefore, now in any decent dentistry such fillings will not be offered to you. Glass ionomer fillings are somewhat more durable and their composition prevents the development of caries. However, their quality also leaves much to be desired, so they are used mainly for filling milk teeth or put under a crown.
3. Another type of short-lived and gradually fading fillings is plastic.
4. Composite fillings are divided into several subspecies:
- Acrylic fillings are very durable, but often cause secondary caries and pulpitis.
- fillings with a base of epoxy resins are less toxic, but wear out faster and darken over time. Therefore, if you need to fill the front teeth, you should not use such fillings.
- light - cured fillings serve about 5 years. These seals are considered the most modern. When exposed to ultraviolet light, they gradually polymerize, which allows them to form their shape and choose a shade.
5. Another modern way of filling is the tabs. With this method of filling, an impression is made from the hole in the tooth, and then, in accordance with it, a kind of prosthesis is made of metal, porcelain or plastic. Then the prosthesis is attached to the tooth. The disadvantage of this method can be called a high price.
In the event that the caries has turned into pulpitis, it will be necessary to fill in the root canals, which remain empty after removal of the nerve. Materials for root canal filling are quite diverse, their choice depends on the recommendations of the dentist and the amount that you are willing to pay.