Tooth coloured fillings are made from a material called ‘composite resin’. They are bonded to the tooth using a high strength bonding agent and set by a blue wave ‘curing light’.
These fillings have largely replaced amalgam as the go-to dental material in the dental profession.
Fillings are needed when a tooth has experienced days, or has broken, or to replace an older filling.
Some patients elect to have their old silver fillings replaced with tooth coloured fillings because they look better!
Historically, dental fillings were predominantly made from an ‘amalgam’ of silver, tin copper and mercury; and are commonly called silver fillings. These fillings were often found in the back teeth on the chewing surfaces. Whilst the material lasts a long time, the tooth around them fatigues with time, and then can break. This results in these teeth needing more extensive treatments like crowns and root therapies in some instances.