Does Your Smile Shine for the Wrong Reasons?

professional woman with pretty smileSure, your smile should shine, but you might prefer it be due to the bright, blemish-free surfaces of your teeth rather than metal clashing with their pearly-white color. After cleaning a cavity (a hole in your tooth created by a bacterial infection), Dr. Maria or Dr. Thanasi Loukas can fill the tooth with a manmade material to improve its strength. Traditionally, metal amalgam has been a favored option for creating durable dental fillings, but their metallic gleam can contrast with your teeth’s more subtle appearance. Using innovative composite resin instead of metal amalgam, your Park Ridge dentists can help restore your afflicted tooth while preserving its natural appearance.

What’s Wrong with Metal Fillings?

An amalgam is a mixture of several substances. In dentistry, metal amalgam is a combination of liquid mercury and a powdered alloy containing silver, tin, copper, and other metals. Since the late 1800s, patients have relied on metal amalgam as an affordable alternative to gold, which was the standard for restorative dentistry at the time but was too expensive for the average citizen. Metal is strong, and can easily withstand the pressures of biting and chewing, but metal is also subject to structural changes in response to changing temperatures. It can expand in the heat, damaging your inflexible tooth, or contract in the cold, creating spaces for bacteria to slip past as it shrinks away from your tooth’s structure.

Smile with Confidence

In recent years, amalgam has slowly been replaced by white composite resin, which is tinted to mimic the surrounding natural tooth structure. Aside from cosmetic appeal, composite resin can also be bonded to your tooth for a more effective barrier against bacteria. Because of its discreet appearance and ability to bond to your tooth, composite resin is also a popular cosmetic option known as dental bonding. If your tooth is discolored, chipped, or slightly misshapen, then Dr. Loukas may recommend dental bonding over more complex treatments.

About Your Park Ridge Dentists:

Dr. Maria and Dr. Thanasi Loukas are highly-skilled restorative, cosmetic, and implant dentists serving the Park Ridge and surrounding Chicago communities. To schedule an appointment, call Loukas General Dentistry today at (847) 696-1919.

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