Fillings

A filling is a way to restore a tooth damaged by decay back to its normal function and shape. Materials used for fillings include gold, porcelain,  composite resins (tooth-coloured fillings), and an amalgam (an alloy of mercury, silver, copper, tin and sometimes zinc).

At Gwynne Dental we have an emphasis on both minimal intervention and cosmetic dentistry which leads us to using porcelain and composite ‘invisible’ fillings.

White ‘Invisible’ Composite Fillings

Traditional fillings were made of metal amalgam but in recent years, white fillings have gained increasing popularity. We’re pleased to offer replacements for these in both Composite Resin and Porcelain Ceramics. Our goal is always to create extremely natural results for our patients, almost undetectable from natural teeth.

Highly aesthetic Composite restorations are created by hand, to an extremely high level of colour matching to your own teeth. Different shades are placed in layers enabling our expert cosmetic dentists to carefully match the filling to the natural colour of your tooth so that it blends in seamlessly. This is a very highly skilled discipline.

Porcelain Fillings

Our Master Ceramic technician can also create porcelain Inlay and Onlay restorations when the old fillings being replaced or the tooth cavity is very large. These beautiful works of art are bonded to your remaining tooth structure to create a virtually “invisible” join whilst preserving your natural tooth. This avoids the need for crowns and reinforces the tooth for long term survival.

The Procedure

1. The area is numbed using a local anaesthetic cream
2. Local anaesthetic is very gently placed next to the tooth
3. All the decay is carefully, gently and completely removed leaving strong, sound tooth structure
4. The new filling is placed either directly (composites) and impressions are taken for the manufacture of a ceramic filling. In this latter case a temporary will be placed until the new ceramic filling is ready for cementation at a 2nd appointment