Dental fillings or restoration are treatments used to restore the function, integrity and morphology of missing tooth structure resulting from caries or external trauma as well as to the replacement of such structure.
Restoring a tooth to good form and function requires two steps;
Preparation of the tooth for placement of restorative material.
Placement of the filling materials.
The following are some of the types of filling;
AMALGAM
Amalgams are alloys formed by a reaction between two or more metals one of which is Mercury.
It is a hard restorative material and is silvery-grey in color.
It is one of the oldest direct restorative materials still in use.
GLASS IONOMER CEMENT
A Glass ionomer cement is a class of materials commonly used in dentistry as a direct filling material.
This can also be placed as a lining material in some restorations for extra protection.
This cement doesn’t require bond, it can bond to the enamel and dentine without the need for use of an intermediate material.
It has good thermal properties as the expansion under stimulus is similar to dentine.
COMPOSITE FILLING
Dental composites are commonly described to patients as white fillings.
This group of restorative materials used in dentistry.
They can be used in direct restorations to fill in the cavities created by dental caries and trauma, minor build up for restoring tooth wear (non-carious tooth surface loss) and filling in small gaps between the teeth.
DIRECT GOLD
Direct gold fillings were practised during the times of the civil war in America.
Although it is rarely used today due to expense and specialized training requirement.
Tooth cavity filling cost usually range from 50k-150k ugsh