Tooth Colour Fillings

Tooth colored fillings, also called white fillings, is dental fillings that restore and mimic the natural appearance of tooth structure. In addition to restoring teeth that have fractured or decayed tooth colored fillings may also be used cosmetically to change the size, color, and shape of teeth. This quality is particularly useful in closing gaps between teeth; repairing chipped teeth and making teeth appear to be more straight or even.

Tooth Colored Fillings

• They closely match natural tooth color and appearance.
• They bond to tooth structure chemically and thus do not require the placement of slots, grooves or pins in healthy tooth structure to mechanically retain them.
• The bonding of white filling to the tooth restores 85% – 95% of the original strength of the tooth.
• They completely harden in seconds instead of days required by some other materials.
• Tooth sensitivity, if any, due to composite resin use is minimal and brief.
• They may be used on front and back teeth without compromising esthetics.
• If damaged they can be repaired.

Most Tooth colored fillings are composite resin fillings

Tooth colored fillings were first introduced to the American public in the mid 1960’s. Since that time to colored filling, materials have undergone continual improvements in durability, esthetics and material handling. The most versatile and widely used tooth colored filling today is composite resin filling. A composite is a material in which filler particles are encased in and bound together by a hard matrix material. For composite resin fillings a fluid material on an acrylic, called BIS-GMA, is hardened around glass filler particles for form composite resin. Trace metals (e.g. cobalt, gold, and copper) give color to the glass while zirconium and titanium oxides add opacity.