What are they?
A filling is referred to as a composite resin. The composite resin is tooth-coloured mixture of glass/ceramic and plastic. The composite resin is placed in the tooth to restore the area of previous decay.
Placing a white filling is a little more technique sensitive then the previous amalgams fillings. A rubber dam should always be used to place a composite resin. The composite resin is a very strong choice of filling material but placing into a prepped tooth the area must be free of bacteria and dry. This is the reason a dentist will always use a rubber dam.
Once the cavity prep is clean of bacteria then a bond is gently rubbed into the tooth. The tooth at a microscopic level is composed of tubules. The tubules will absorb the bond. A gentle amount of air is blown over the bond and then cured with the LED light. Then the composite resin is layered into the tooth.
The composite resin is usually placed into the tooth by a method of small incremental layers and then cured with a special LED light. The light causes the material to become hard, this process is called polymerization. The tooth will have many layers and once it is full, then it will be polished. Composite resin is designed to be polished which gives the filling lustre and makes it very smooth.
The composite resin comes in a variety of colors so this makes them highly aesthetic and very functional.
