The advances in materials and techniques have affected every aspect of dentistry…

…even a standard filling is not the same as it once was.

Tooth-colored resin composite fillings can repair a decayed tooth or broken filling without making teeth look dark and gray.  The newest filling materials have increased their ability to adapt to the shape of your tooth, resist staining and chipping, blend in with the shade of your tooth, and polish to a high shine.

New techniques that are used during the placement of the fillings also help to ensure successful treatment.  Resin composite fillings require a dry field when they are bonded to your tooth.  This often resulted in a patient whose jaw was sore as a result of holding their mouth open during the placement of multiple fillings.  It also resulted in the dentist shoving multiple cotton rolls under the tongue and into the cheek with questionable results, or stretching a vinyl sheet over the patients nose and mouth with holes punched out for the teeth.

A recently developed soft, flexible mouth rest with built in suction will allow a superior option to both of the aforementioned methods.  A patient is able to rest their jaw on the soft mouth rest, without having to open to their maximum ability, increasing jaw comfort significantly.  Flexible fins that rest along side the tongue and cheek allow the built in suction to keep the tooth dry without placing an intrusive vinyl sheet over the patient’s mouth.  The result is a more comfortable experience for our patients and better, longer lasting fillings due to the stronger bond to the dry tooth.

In addition, newly developed bands used in-between the teeth during placement help to ensure excellent contact between adjacent teeth.  This will greatly reduce the amount of food that gets stuck between the teeth in the ‘flossing space’ and eliminate gaps between the teeth.