When Are Dental Fillings Necessary?
Do you think you require dental fillings anytime your dentist in Worcester, MA reports a micro-cavity in your teeth? Would it surprise you to know these micro-cavities may not need fillings but can either be reversed or prevented from creating further decay using new technologies helping provide alternative treatments?
This article intends to surprise you with technological advances in dentistry, making dental fillings unnecessary for micro-cavities. Please continue reading to learn when or why you must have dental fillings in your tooth for holes created by bacteria.
When Do Dental Fillings Become Inevitable?
When you visit your dentist for your routine appointment, what would your reaction be if the dental professional recommended you need dental fillings in Worcester, MA, because you have a micro-cavity in your tooth? Would you accept the dentist’s view to receive cavity fillings without asking questions? We suggest you remain open to questioning your dentist whether cavity fillings are essential for micro-cavities.
If you have a visible cavity in your tooth that is causing significant pain, it indicates the bacteria within has inflicted permanent damage to your tooth. In such cases, the optimal method to restore your tooth is to have tooth fillings in the cavity to prevent the bacteria from creating further damage. However, if you have a micro-cavity visible only after an x-ray, you must exercise your option to inquire with the dentist whether alternative remedies are available for treating a hole where the bacteria hasn’t penetrated the tooth. When you question your dentist, they will likely come out with even more surprising information that preventive treatments are indeed available to stop the damage from progressing to create additional problems.
What Alternatives Do Dentists Offer in Contrast to Fillings?
Dental decay detected early before progressing into your tooth doesn’t require dental fillings. In reality, the bacteria requires at least eight years to penetrate the tooth’s inner layer before fillings become inevitable.
Your dentist may recommend specific fluoride treatments to help reverse tooth decay. For example, dentists can reverse the issue by around 50 percent using a highly concentrated fluoride rinse or gel in early decline.
You must also help your teeth by preventing the decay from spreading. You must practice accident oral hygiene regimens brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing at least once. In addition, you must limit or avoid drinking acidic fruit juices or soft drinks and begin using refined carbohydrates for fresh fruit and vegetables to slow or reverse dental decay.
You can also inquire with the dentist whether you can have dental sealants on the tooth where decay is forming. Dental sealants are thin and durable plastic coatings applied on the chewing surfaces of the molars to create a smoother surface on the pits and fissures to prevent the entrapment of food particles and bacteria that create cavities. Fortunately, dental sealant application can also happen on a tooth with decay forming to halt the deterioration and reverse it. Dental sealants are effective for a decaying tooth when detected in its earliest stages.
To Get or Not to Get Dental Fillings
If you are recommended dental fillings, a typical reaction from you would be to try and delay the filling procedure, fearing the dental drill and local anesthesia. However, if the cavity is visible in your mouth and is painful, getting the dental fillings recommended by the dentist is the best solution for your tooth.
You find it beneficial to have the dental filling and go through the filling procedure enduring local anesthesia and some discomfort for a couple of hours to safeguard your tooth with fillers. The dentist in Worcester, MA ensures you are comfortable and feel no pain during the filling procedure. After drilling the decay and disinfecting the hollow space, the dentist places fillings made from silver amalgam or composite resin according to your preferences.
Silver amalgam fillings aren’t aesthetically pleasing but are excellent solutions for your molars if you have a hole in them. You can prefer tooth-colored composite resin fillings on your molars if you are willing to pay the higher prices for the fillers and have them replaced every 5 to 7 years. Silver amalgam fillings are optimal for your molars, where biting pressures are the highest. You can have tooth-colored fillings on your front teeth as tooth fillings for cavities or even chipped and broken teeth. However, before accepting your dentist in Worcester, MA recommendation to have your tooth filled even for a micro-cavity, you must inquire whether the fillings are essential or are reversible using alternative treatments presently available.
Remember, dental fillings are essential only when you have a painfully visible cavity in your tooth and not before. Therefore if you visit Tatnuck Family Dental Care and receive a recommendation for dental fillings, please do not hesitate to ask the questions mentioned in this article and benefit from considerable savings from alternative treatments.
