Lonsdale Place Dental – North Vancouver
Teeth will need fillings or restorations when a part of the tooth structure is missing due to caries (cavities or decays), chips or fractures and also for cosmetic reasons. Different materials can be used to replace tooth structure. One of the oldest materials that is used to fill teeth is gold. Nowadays gold is rarely used to do direct fillings but can be used for indirect lab fabricated restorations with a great result. Another older material is amalgam or “Silver filling”. Amalgam has been around for more than hundred years and is still used in many countries. The newest filling materials are resins and Glass Ionomers which are tooth-coloured. Composites are resin materials that come in different shades.
Porcelain is also used to replace tooth structure, but like gold, has to be fabricated at a dental lab.