A New Year is a great time for a fresh start, and what better way to usher in 2017 than with a healthy, bright smile? If you’ve got metal fillings that you’d like to replace, we can help. Why not start the year in style and swap unsightly amalgam fillings for a beautiful new smile?

What’s so good about white fillings?

White fillings offer dental patients a range of benefits. The main reason most people want to replace metal fillings with white fillings is aesthetics. White fillings are invisible while metal fillings can clearly be seen when you smile. White fillings are also safer, and they are cleaner, which is better for the environment.

Fillings are used to seal holes in the tooth surface, which are known as cavities. If you have a cavity, we can use a white filling to restore the tooth without any impact on the look of your smile. In contrast, a metal filling is usually easy to spot when you smile.

How is a filling placed?

If you’re having a filling for the first time, your dentist will clear out the cavity and make sure the tooth is clean before they pour in the filling material, which is made from dental composite and resins. At this stage, the filling material is soft, and this means it can be shaped to fit the cavity. When the cavity has been sealed, the composite will be set using a curing light, and the filling will be trimmed to fit perfectly.

Fillings are usually fitted under local anaesthetic, which numbs the tooth so you don’t feel any pain. Typically, the entire process takes less than an hour.

The procedure to replace a metal filling will take a little longer, as your dentist will have to remove the existing filling before they can place the new fillings. The cavity will be cleared and cleaned thoroughly to make sure there are no remnants of the old filling before the white filling is placed.