Restorative
Services

We are an amalgam-free practice, this means that whatever restoration we use in your mouth will not contain materials like mercury or silver and will appear white.

White fillings:

White fillings are of two varieties:

• Composite Resin is typically used for smaller cavities. In the right conditions, can be a conservative long-term restoration solution.
• Glass Ionomer Cements (GICs) – Are weaker than Composite Resin but have the advantage of releasing fluoride onto the tooth.

Porcelain(CEREC) Restorations:

These are computer-generated and designed restorations that are strong, aesthetic, biocompatible, and have one of the best success rates in dentistry.

How does it work?

The dentist prepares the cavity which is then scanned into the computer to make a 3-D virtual image of the tooth. The computer then proposes how the tooth should look, after a few amendments another machine cuts the proposed restoration out of a porcelain block. This is then polished and cemented onto the tooth to provide a strong, conservative way of holding the tooth together.

These restorations are typically advised for medium to large cavities. The advantages are:

• Preserve more teeth than some other restorative options
• Have got a very good success rate in the right conditions (studies suggest around 90% over 10 years)
• It’s all done in 1 appointment
• A very biologically compatible strong material used
• The shaping of the tooth is far better than what the human hand could do in most instances
• Cheaper than some other restorative options

Crowns:

Crowns or Caps are generally recommended to hold a tooth together when there isn’t much tooth left. Typically we shave about 1.5 mm of the tooth/filling surface on all sides. We then take an impression and send it to the lab, leaving you with a temporary crown in its place. The lab creates a Crown in metal, porcelain, or a combination of these materials that is cemented over the tooth very snugly.

These can be a very aesthetic way of holding a tooth together. However, sometimes they aren’t appropriate if too much tooth needs to be sacrificed to place a crown.