Having a great smile is becoming more and more important, as anyone who watches dating shows will have noticed. Many people cite a good smile at the top of their list of important things about potential partners. This is one reason why more people are choosing white fillings over amalgam when they need to get cavities seen to by their dentist in Soho.
Although no one has yet proved that the mercury in amalgam fillings is dangerously toxic to the human body, more and more dentists are offering an alternative to amalgam.
A little bit of history
Before the 19th century, if teeth were filled rather than simply extracted, the resultant hole was usually plugged with either molten gold or silver. The heat killed the nerve of the tooth, and thus the tooth died. However, in the 1820s, Auguste Taveau, added mercury to silver-tin from French coins and thus amalgam, which is soft and malleable at room temperature, was perfected.
Amalgam has been an incredibly useful cavity filler since it was first created by August Taveau in 1820s Paris. Cheap and long-lasting, it became beloved by the NHS, and is still is wide use.
Today’s white fillings
More and more patients are asking for resin composite fillings from their dentist in Soho. Now that these materials have been around for a while, they are much stronger than they used to be, so white fillings last longer. They also have important advantages over amalgam.
When we use white fillings, we only need to remove the decayed tooth material to get a good filling, whereas amalgam often requires the removal of healthy material. This weakens the tooth.
White fillings also bond to the tooth. Amalgam doesn’t, so there is always the chance that decay-causing bacteria can sneak in between the perimeter of the filling and the tooth.
White fillings can be sculpted to recreate the mound and valleys of the tooth’s chewing surface. Amalgam can only give you a flat chewing surface, which means you can’t chew your food as well as before.
Your dentist in Soho can either fill new cavities with white fillings, or we can replace old amalgam fillings.