Why You Should Prefer Composite Over Amalgam Fillings

Dental fillings have the distinction of being one of the most recognizable and popular dental treatments among the general population. According to the 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, around 90% of adults have experienced some level of tooth decay, and the average adult has received anywhere between 6 and 7 fillings.

Still, as prominent as they are, some people still don’t completely understand the various materials that fillings can be made out of. Some people still expect to get metal fillings, even though tooth-colored composite has been the industry standard for years now.

If you want to know why so many dentists prefer composite fillings to metal ones, here are a few reasons that that’s the case.

Their Aesthetics

One of the most obvious benefits is the fact that tooth-colored composite is capable of blending in with natural teeth in a way that metal amalgam can’t. No matter how well done your metal filling is, there’s no getting around the fact that it won’t look like the rest of your tooth.

Tooth-colored composite, on the other hand, can be color-matched to your natural enamel. This means that even someone looking carefully at your mouth will have a hard time telling that you’ve ever had a cavity.

Their Safety

In the past, metal amalgam fillings included mercury, a toxic heavy metal. This is rarely the case for metal fillings you’ll get nowadays, but there are still some older practices that haven’t completely moved away from it, which poses substantial health risks to the patient.

Even if you aren’t getting a mercury filling, some patients have allergies to the metals used in modern restorations and without realizing it. This is not possible for composite fillings, making them a safer choice overall.

Their Comfort

One feature of metal fillings that can cause headaches for patients is their propensity to shrink when it’s cold or expand when it’s warm. While you won’t be able to see this happening, you’ll certainly be able to feel it—this trait of metal fillings typically means that patients start to feel discomfort when exposed to hot or cold foods.

Composite fillings do not have this issue. As a result, they are much more comfortable long-term than their metal equivalent.

About the Author

At DeMartino Dental Group, we want every patient we see to experience the highest standard of oral healthcare. To that end, we have outfitted our office with all the latest dental technology to make the process of repairing teeth as easy and streamlined as possible. We’ve been helping our community smile for well over five decades, and we’re always excited to welcome new patients into our office.

If you have any questions about dental fillings, we can be reached at our website or by phone at (908) 859-5260.