Dental conditions vary by diet, age, and overall oral care, and restorative treatments to care for teeth, such as fillings, can become more of an issue as you get older. As kids, we often eat and drink a lot of sweets, resulting in decay that causes a need for one or more fillings — and many more fillings for the average adult.
This type of dental restoration can help preserve oral health, but there’s still a risk of various issues that may lead to needing further work done on your teeth. Dr. Roge Jacob and Dr. Magdalena Azzarelli of Hillsdale Dental Care in San Jose, California, can help you manage your dental restoration needs, including replacing fillings when needed.
Let’s explore why replacement fillings may be necessary by examining the types of fillings you can get, the issues that can affect them, and what leads to the need for filling replacement.
Fillings are used to repair cracks, minor chips, and cavities with a material that fills the empty area left behind from dental decay or injury. This treatment can be done directly or indirectly:
This process is accomplished without the use of temporary fillings and is often done in one visit. This filling type is often made from resin, glass ionomer (silica glass powder), or a metal amalgam (e.g., silver, tin, zinc, copper). At Hillsdale Dental Care, we only use mercury-free filling materials.
This form of filling requires dental impressions that need to be taken to a lab, a common practice when fillings are done for inlays and onlays. They offer support when a crown isn’t needed. Materials like porcelain and gold are commonly used in indirect fillings.
Several issues can affect fillings, including wear or damage to the teeth. When getting a filling, pain can be caused by the filling interfering with your bite when chewing or throbbing pain when the filling is placed near the pulp. Reshaping the filling can help with the former issue, and the other may need a root canal.
Sensitivity issues after filling placement are often temporary and can lead to issues eating or drinking things that are hot or cold, or referred pain felt in other teeth (which is typically mild and goes away within a few days). Allergic reactions to the materials in the fillings can also present problems. Over time, normal use can wear away at fillings, too.
Many of the issues mentioned can be managed without having to replace fillings. However, some symptoms can indicate that a filling replacement needs to happen, such as:
Some sensitivity can be expected after fillings are put in, but if your problems with hot and cold continue long after treatment, your filling may need to be replaced.
When you experience further chipping or damage to filled teeth, either more filling is needed, or other options may need to be considered (e.g., dental crown).
If you see the filling in teeth changing color over time, or the fillings cause things like cracks or other issues (which can happen with old amalgam fillings), you should have it replaced.
Fillings can be done to fill areas where you had cavities, but if more cavities occur nearby, we may need to replace the filling or manage the problem another way.
Different types of fillings last for varied periods of time, and when they exceed that timeframe, they likely need replacing. Silver fillings may need to be replaced after 15 years, and composite resin typically last up to 10 years. Gold or porcelain fillings often last well over 15 years.
Whatever the problem you may have with your fillings, we can help you restore them or find a better option to suit your restoration needs. Call or click online to make an appointment with the Hillsdale Dental Care team today to find out which treatment option is best for your teeth.
