Restorative Dentistry (Fillings)

Restorative dentistry is integrated management of oral health issues and restoring the mouth to a functional and esthetic state. Fillings are the most commonly used restorative treatment options. The main goal for restorative dentistry is to bring back your natural smile whilst preventing future oral health issues.

To treat a cavity, a dentist will remove the decayed portion of the tooth then fill where the decayed material was removed in your tooth. Fillings may also be utilized to repair cracked or broken teeth and or teeth that have been worn out due to being misused, like biting your nails or tooth grinding.

There are different types of a dental filling, such as:

• Resin/Composite or tooth-coloured fillings: these are used routinely to restore decayed tissue in the tooth. There are various colours, and one closest to your tooth colour is chosen to match. In most instances, you cannot tell the difference between the tooth and the filling!
• Local anaesthetic is administered for a more comfortable experience; the decayed tissue is removed and replaced with the filling material.
• Chairside resin veneers: chairside veneers are less expensive and do not require a laboratory procedure.
• Dr Hajee and technicians can also engineer veneers which are cemented onto the tooth. This is usually done to improve the colour or shape of your teeth.

Filings are possible if the cavity is small enough and does not encroach into the pulp chamber. If the decay extends into the pulp chamber, you would usually feel symptoms of pain and hot and cold stimuli. The pain may be constant or worse at night. This indicates an infection of the pulp chamber or root tissue. In this case, you will require root canal treatment. If left untreated, there may be facial swelling too, which results in a medical emergency. It is, for this reason, we encourage early treatment of any problem.