Dental Services

20 North Finley Avenue
Basking Ridge NJ 07920

phone: 908 766-1300
fax: 908 766-5604

Fillings

Many people still have silver/mercury amalgamated fillings in their mouths from years past. These fillings are not particularly pleasing to the eye, and we know that by unavoidable design, they ultimately result in a weaker tooth structure. Porcelain inlays, onlays and tooth colored restorations create fillings that are not only beautiful and unnoticeable but also add strength to weakened teeth. These restorations are esthetically pleasing and very strong thanks to new bonding technologies.

Disadvantages of Silver fillings:

Silver fillings have many drawbacks. The edges of the silver filling can wear down, become weak or break. With age, the metal of a silver filling gets dark, expands and can split the walls of the tooth. These changes also result in the tooth being more susceptible to recurrent decay around the leaking margins of the old silver filling.

Advantages of Tooth-Colored Restorations

There are many advantages to tooth colored restorations. Resin Fillings and porcelain onlays are bonded to the teeth creating a tight, superior fit to the natural tooth. Such restorations can be used in instances where much of the tooth structure has been lost. The tooth remains intact and stronger.

The result is a beautiful and natural-looking smile!

Replacing Silver Amalgams with a cast porcelain or bonded Tooth Colored Restoration

You can have your silver fillings replaced with tooth colored restorations. This process requires up to two appointments.

Porcelain or Resin Onlays (two appointments)

At the first appointment, the old filling is removed and any additional decay that is present is removed. Then an impression is made of your tooth. From this impression, we construct a model of your tooth and it is sent to our lab. A temporary onlay is placed on the tooth. At the lab, a porcelain or resin material is carefully placed into the model of your tooth. It is then sculpted to look and feel like the tooth structure that was removed.

At your second appointment, the temporary onlay is removed. A conditioning gel is placed on your tooth to prepare it for the permanent onlay. Bonding cement is placed on the tooth and a high intensity light bonds the resin onlay to the tooth. The tooth is then polished.

Tooth Colored Restorations (fillings)

The old filling is removed. A color-matched shade of bonded resin material is selected and placed in the area to be restored. The material is cured with a high intensity light and then polished.