General / Cosmetic Dentistry

Fillings

Amalgam Fillings

Used for well over a century, dental amalgam is the most thoroughly researched and tested restorative material among all those in use. It is durable, easy to use, highly resistant to wear and relatively inexpensive in comparison to other materials. For those reasons, it remains a valued treatment option for dentists and their patients.

While questions have arisen about the safety of dental amalgam relating to its mercury content, the major U.S. and international scientific and health bodies—including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, among others—have been satisfied that dental amalgam is a safe, reliable and effective restorative material.
Because amalgam fillings can withstand very high chewing loads, they are particularly useful for restoring molars in the back of the mouth where chewing load is greatest.

Amalgam fillings, like other filling materials, are considered biocompatible—they are well tolerated by patients with only rare occurrences of allergic response.

Disadvantages of amalgam include possible short-term sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures after the filling is placed. The silver-colored filling is not as esthetically pleasing as one that is tooth-colored, especially when the restored tooth is near the front of the mouth, visible when the patients laughs or speaks. And lastly, to prepare the tooth, the dentist may need to remove more tooth structure to accommodate an amalgam filling than for other types of direct fillings

Composite Fillings

Before

After

Composite fillings are a mixture of acrylic resin and finely ground glasslike particles that produce a tooth-colored restoration. Composite fillings provide good durability and resistance to fracture in small-to-mid size restorations that need to withstand moderate chewing pressure. Less tooth structure is removed when the dentist prepares the tooth, and this may result in a smaller filling than that of an amalgam. Composites can also be "bonded" or adhesively held in a cavity, often allowing the dentist to make a more conservative repair to the tooth.

In teeth where chewing loads are high, composite fillings are moderately resistant to wear, but less so than amalgam fillings. The cost is moderate and depends on the size of the filling and the technique used by the dentist to place it in the prepared tooth. The time required to place a composite filling is usually longer than what is required for an amalgam filling. Composite fillings require a cavity that can be kept clean and dry during filling and they are subject to stain and discoloration over time.