Did you know that 91% of adults in the US have had a dental cavity on a permanent tooth?
Cavities, by far, are the most common condition we treat in the dental office. The most common places for them to form are in between teeth, in the deep grooves and pits of your teeth, and by the gumline– all of the hard-to-clean places! If visible, cavities appear as a dark or chalky brown spot on a tooth. They cause the tooth to soften in the affected area, so they can be confirmed when touched with our dental instruments during an exam. They also cause the tooth to be less dense in the areas it has affected, so they can be detected with radiographs as well. When detected early enough, most cavities can be treated by removal from the tooth and the tooth sealed up by a dental filling. Dr. Khoda will choose a composite resin (tooth-colored) filling or an amalgam (silver) filling.
What can fillings and bonding procedures do for teeth?
- Reshape the tooth and seal it off after a cavity has been removed
- Add bulk back to teeth if a small portion is chipped away
- Close gaps between teeth
How is a filling completed?
Once a cavity has been detected and a filling recommended, we will have you back and start by administering an anesthetic to the area where the cavity is. Once the tooth/teeth are nice and numb, Dr. Ava Khodakhast will begin by removing all of the cavity and affected portions from your tooth. She will prepare and prime the tooth to accept the filling material when everything is cleaned out. She will pack the filling material into the tooth and sculpt it to match the anatomy of that tooth. Sometimes, she may need to apply a matrix or band around the tooth to help her shape the filling material properly. Once completed, she will adjust the fillings so they won’t interfere with how your teeth come together and polish everything up, so it looks like nothing happened!
