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Posts Tagged ‘amalgam fillings’

Dental Decay? We Have The Right Treatments For You in LS1

Sunday, June 1st, 2014

1787127_blogDecay is one of the most common preventable illnesses among children and adults in the UK. If you have a cavity, we have the solution. We can restore your tooth and reduce your risk of further infection in no time!

Fillings

We use fillings to fill cavities and strengthen the teeth when they have been affected by decay. Cavities form when acids released by bacteria in plaque nibble away at the protective enamel, eroding it and making it thinner and weaker. Eventually, a hole can form in the enamel and this is known as a cavity. Once there is a cavity, there is a risk that bacteria can spread to other parts of the tooth and this increases the chances of further decay and dental abscesses.

Fillings help to stop the spread of infection and we use white fillings to restore the teeth without impacting on the look of your smile. White fillings are made from dental composite, which can be matched to your natural tooth shade and shaped to fit the cavity perfectly; once the composite is in place, it is then hardened using a powerful light source. This process takes a minute and you won’t feel any pain.

We carry out treatment under local anaesthetic so you won’t feel a thing during treatment.

We are happy to replace existing metal amalgam fillings with white fillings or to fit new white fillings.

Preventing decay

We are also on hand to offer advice about preventing decay. We recommend following these simple steps: eat well and avoid sugary foods and drinks, brush your teeth twice a day and floss regularly and keep up with your regular dental check-ups.

The truth about Amalgam Fillings in the City of Leeds

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

Unless you are the luckiest person in the city of Leeds, most people will have a filling or two at some point in their lives and historically, this would be done with a grey, amalgam filling. This type of filling is very robust and can take more forces that the average tooth can and it has always been thought of as the perfect answer to the problem tooth decay: once done it can pretty much last you for life. The results have always seemed favourable for amalgam, but, grey is not today’s colour, white is and the lightening bolt of what’s fashionable means that most people try to avoid amalgam fillings if they can in order to get the most ‘natural’ smile they can. However, a more sinister reason behind avoiding amalgam has surfaced. The materials used in this filling have a hint of poison within and in some countries, this filling has been banned. Now, if you compare amalgam to the latest dandy white fillings around today, there is no competition when it comes to practicality- amalgam wins every time. And as for the inherent poisons that may possibly cause problems for you in the future, then just ask your 80 something grandparents about their fillings: they may well still have them in and let’s face it, swapping amalgam for the latest en-vogue fillings will make you look great, but it isn’t going to put years on your life and at the end of the day, you want something that is going to last, and amalgam fillings do this.

Get the Latest White Dental Fillings from the Best Dental Practice in Leeds

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Dental technology has made amazing advances in the past decade. It is now possible to get dental treatment that looks absolutely invisible. People are willing to pay more money to get their teeth repaired with materials that are indistinguishable from their other teeth. Dental fillings are a good example of this.
Many dentists use silver or metal amalgam in order to fill cavities in teeth. These amalgams certainly do a very good job by protecting the cleaned cavity from further decay, but they are very visible as black or silver areas when the person opens their mouth. Having a row of filled teeth can be a constraint for certain people and they might not laugh out loud because they don’t feel comfortable opening their mouth wide.
A Leeds dental practice specializes in offering white dental fillings that make the tooth look almost exactly like the other ones in the mouth. These fillings are made of acrylic and porcelain and they give the filled teeth a very beautiful and lifelike effect. These fillings do cost more money than the ordinary amalgam ones, but people ask for them because they look very attractive. The other advantage is that the dentist has to drill less of the tooth when white dental fillings are being used.
Teeth at the back of the mouth can get amalgam fillings because they tend to be stronger. However, if the tooth that requires a filling is near the front of your mouth, then white fillings are an easy choice.

Ask a City of Leeds dentist if your dental amalgam fillings are safe

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

A lot has been written about dental amalgam fillings over the past few years and it is difficult to ascertain what is true and what is simply scaremongering. Dental amalgam fillings are strong and durable alloy fillings, usually comprised of a mix of 46 to 57 per cent silver and 43 to 54 per cent liquid mercury. Amalgam fillings, often referred to as silver fillings, were invented in France in the 1800s and have been used all over the world to fill cavities in patients teeth. In more recent years, amalgam fillings have been replaced in many areas by composite resin fillings. These resin filings have the advantage of being tooth coloured and therefore don’t stand out as much as silver fillings.

Controversy has surrounded the use of amalgam fillings ever since they were first used in the 1800s. Many patients and clinicians feel and have felt that the use of poisonous mercury in the teeth was very damaging to the overall health of the patient. This is because vapour is released from the mercury when the fillings are placed. Vapour is also released when the mercury is agitated, during eating for example. Many people feel this vapour is harmful to the organs of the body and vast amounts of research has been undertaken to try and prove this theory. However, it must be said that the US Centre for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health and Food and Drug Administration have been unable to find any scientific proof that mercury vapours released into the body can cause any risk of harm to the patient.

Amalgam fillings are very strong and durable but they have other disadvantages. They do not look as pleasant as resin fillings and can cause weakening of the tooth due to expansion over time. For patients who are concerned about the negative aspects of amalgam fillings and are thinking about having them replaced with resin fillings, it is necessary to weigh up the risks against damage to teeth during removal with the benefits of having the mercury fillings replaced. A City of Leeds dentist will be able to go through the advantages and disadvantages with you and help you to decide on the best course of action.

Central Leeds dentist fills cavities with invisible white fillings

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Until the advent of composite resin fillings, or white fillings as they are more commonly known, patients had little choice but to have unseemly amalgam fillings. These amalgam fillings, invented in France in the early 1800s, had been widely used around the world to fill dental cavities. Made form an alloy of silver and mercury, these amalgam fillings, while very strong, were very noticeable in the mouth. They also expanded over time causing further damage to teeth and were notoriously difficult to fit, with dentists often having to inflict unnecessary damage on teeth to fix them. More concerning is the controversy that surrounds amalgam fillings with regards poisonous and dangerous mercury vapours that are released into the body when placed and during eating. Although this has never been resolutely confirmed it is enough of a concern to many patients to want to have them replaced.

The white resin filling was, therefore, a welcome addition to the dentistry arsenal when it arrived. Dentists are able to match the colour of the resin to the patient’s existing teeth to give a more natural appearance. Nearly all dentists now use white fillings because of the reduced safety risk and vastly improved aesthetic qualities of white fillings. The composite resin material is very durable and can in fact also be used for dental bonding procedures to repair and restore cracked and broken teeth.

In cases where resin bonding is not suitable, for example when filling large areas that come under great force, dentists are able to use state of the art CAD/CAM CEREC technology to produce white ceramic fillings that are incredibly strong and have the necessary aesthetic quality now expected by most patients.

For most cases however, the composite resin will be more than enough to restore the appearance and structural integrity to a tooth in just a single visit to the dentist. If you think you may need a filling, ask a Central Leeds dentist about white fillings.