What Is the Procedure for Filling a Cavity?

Dental fillers help treat tooth decay to prevent additional damage besides tooth loss. They also make it convenient to reduce pain and infection. A filler seals a hole, alternatively called a cavity in a tooth.

Getting a cavity filled with a dental filling might cause some discomfort, but the procedure doesn’t cause pain. Patients experiencing moderate or severe pain after getting a hole filled can discuss the issue with their dentist.

This post describes the procedure for filling cavities, including the materials and the costs of restoring your teeth after developing a hole due to poor oral hygiene.

Filling Material Types

When you have a cavity in a tooth, the dentist in Vernon, BC, decides on the filling material type optimal for your teeth after examining its location, the extent of the damage, your budget and other factors before discussing it with you and providing their recommendation. However, you will likely receive one of the following filling material types in your tooth:

• Amalgam Fillings: Amalgam is a mixture of silver and materials such as copper, tin, and Mercury. These fillers are generally recommended for the molars where biting pressures are higher, and the durability of these fillings is incredible.
• Composite Resin Fillings: Composite resin is tooth-coloured consisting of resin and glass.
• Glass Ionomer Fillings: consisting of powdered glass that adheres with the tooth glass ionomer fillings are also tooth-coloured. Releasing fluoride to help prevent further decay is also a feature of these fillings.
• Gold Fillings: gold fillings consist of an alloy of copper, gold, and various other metals. Gold fillings are the most durable and last for over 20 years.

Resin-based composite resin and glass ionomer fillers do not have the durability of amalgam and gold. However, their tooth-coloured feature makes them an aesthetically pleasing option because they don’t contain heavy metals.

Composite resin fillings will likely cost more and shrink over time resulting in caps between the filling and the tooth it restores.

The Dental Filling Procedure

Getting your tooth or teeth restored is an in-office procedure, and the Vernon dentist provides appropriate anesthesia to patients that need fillings. In addition, children and people with severe dental anxiety are provided oral sedation or general anesthesia.

What to Expect When Getting Your Tooth Restored?

Various steps are used by dentists when filling cavities, depending on their location. However, the procedure typically follows the steps mentioned below:

• You receive an application of a numbing on your gums to ensure comfort when the dentist injects local anesthesia into the gums.
• Using a digital dental drill or other instruments, the dentist removes the decayed portion of the tooth.
• The hollow space in the tooth undergoes cleaning and disinfection, and the filling is placed to seal the hollow space.
• Finally, the dentist polishes the filling and adjusts it to ensure the patient’s bite is not affected.

If the patient receives a tooth-coloured filling, the dentist must cure the material or harden it using ultraviolet light.

Recovering from the Filling Procedure

As you leave the dental office, the dentist might recommend not eating or drinking anything until the anesthesia wears off to prevent accidentally biting the soft tissues of your mouth.

You might experience pain and soreness after restoring your tooth with appropriate filling materials. However, you will likely not need help from the emergency dentist near me because over-the-counter pain relievers can help you overcome the discomfort without issues. Sometimes the discomfort occurs because your teeth might not fit together because of the material filled. Your dentist can correct the problem to prevent additional pain.

Tooth sensitivity is another issue you might experience, especially to hot and cold temperatures. The sensitivity results from minor nerve irritation or inflammation when the dentist uses the dental drill to remove tooth decay. The sensitivity subsides gradually and is not a cause for concern. However, if the sensitivity worsens, you must contact the dentist providing the filling for assistance.

When to Seek Help from Dentists after Filling a Tooth

You must contact your dentist for help if you experience worsening pain that doesn’t subside, fever, redness and warmth in the gums, severe tooth sensitivity, and swelling. Dentists have remedies for these conditions and will ensure you recover from the filling procedure without significant discomfort.

Ryan K dentistry provides dental fillers of various types at their practice in Vernon. If you must have a tooth filled, kindly schedule an appointment with this dental office to restore your tooth.