What Are Cavity Fillings?

Other than basic check-ups, cavity fillings are among the most common procedures that dentists conduct with their patients. They are usually carried out because a hole has developed in the tooth of a patient. This can come about as a result of trauma, such as a tooth being hit or biting into something hard. It is more usual, however, for a tooth to develop a cavity because of decay. This is a consequence of sugars and the bacteria which feed on them eating away at the hard surface of a tooth, known as enamel.

You can make such holes close up by remineralising your teeth using fluoride. As such, brushing your teeth well after each meal you eat can help you to prevent cavities needing to be filled in the first place. Nevertheless, if the remineralisation process is not working fast enough or the hole has become too large to close, then you will need a filling. If so, what will your dentist do?

What to Expect

To begin with, your dentist will probably clean the area that he or she will be working on. You may need to rinse your mouth out and an X-ray may be taken to give a better idea of how large the hole has become. Sometimes multiple fillings are sorted out in one session. A dental appointment for a filling will usually take about an hour in the chair.

Painkilling

Your dental practitioner will apply some form of anaesthetic so that when the filling goes into your tooth you cannot feel it. This makes the whole process much more comfortable, especially if the filling is going into one of your back molars which will result in you having to have your mouth open wide for a prolonged period. As a filling goes into a cavity it can touch onto the nerve inside. This would be very painful without the benefit of a local anaesthetic. In nearly all cases, the painkiller is administered by an injection into the soft tissue close to the tooth in question.

Filling the Cavity

Once the groundwork has been completed, a soft, cement-like material will be placed into the cavity. This will subsequently go hard and act like new tooth enamel. Amalgam fillings are commonplace and have been used for decades. You can also have metal, ceramic, composite and glass ionomer fillings. Once the material has hardened, it may be smoothed down using a spinning tool so that no sharp edges stick out.

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