Dental Fillings

A filling is used to treat a small hole, or cavity, in a tooth. To repair a cavity, a dentist removes the decayed tooth tissue and then fills the space with a filling material.

There are several types of filling material currently available to repair cavities, including tooth- colored (composite) fillings and silver-colored (amalgam) fillings. Composite resin materials are increasingly used to fill teeth because many people prefer tooth-colored fillings and because composites continue to improve.

There are also treatments called crowns, used to repair badly broken-down teeth. Crowns can be made of gold or other metals, porcelain, or stainless steel (usually used on baby teeth). Generally, dental fillings and crowns do not last a lifetime.