At Gentle Dental Care, the health of our patients is our top priority. We go the extra mile to provide your dental care using the techniques and materials that have been shown to be safest and most effective at preventing issues and restoring your oral health. From the link between gum disease and systemic health problems to the potentially negative effects of mercury-based materials on the body, research continues to reveal just how intricately connected our oral health and whole body health really are. To this end, we provide mercury-free dentistry options for patients in the Menomonie, Durand, Eau Claire, Baldwin, Colfax, Pepin, and surrounding WI communities, including tooth-colored composite fillings.
Why choose composite resin?
For many years in dentistry, a material called metal amalgam was used to place fillings in teeth. While it is effective at restoring the shape and function of a tooth, metal amalgam has a silver color that is very noticeable in your smile, and some patients have concerns about the mercury content of the amalgam material, which can lead to allergies, galvanic reactions, and toxic effects in some cases. As an alternative, composite resin fillings have many benefits when it comes to restoring a tooth that has a cavity:
- When a tooth is decayed, it can have a grayish appearance that might be visible when you smile. By gently cleaning out the diseased area and placing a tooth-colored composite resin filling that is shaded and sculpted to match your natural tooth, your smile will look even better than before! In addition, composite resin fillings are polished to have the same smoothness and luster of your other teeth for a gleaming smile.
- Composite resin is often considered to be the safest dental filling material because is biocompatible, meaning that it is not likely to react with your body in a negative way. In addition, composite resin expands and contracts at the same rate as your natural tooth structure when exposed to hot or cold temperatures, which means that it is less likely to cause fractures, tooth sensitivity, or other issues due to rapid expansion or contraction like metal amalgam can.
- When placing a composite resin filling, we need to remove less of your healthy tooth structure than we would with metal amalgam, which helps keep your tooth strong so that it can function well and look great for many years to come.
To learn more about mercury-safe dental care and other treatments designed to optimize your oral health that we provide at Gentle Dental Care, call us at (715) 600-9004 today!
