Resins

Dentists have known for years that the metal within the fillings in your mouth behave much like metal behaves outside your mouth. Hot and cold, such as hot coffee or an iced beverage, makes the metal in the fillings in your teeth expand and contract. The metal also has a quality known as being “dead soft”, meaning that the metal remains malleable or changeable in shape if sufficient non-excessive force is placed on it. With this expansion and contraction and shape changing the fillings can actually micro fracture the teeth, slowly through time and eventually fracturing the teeth they were meant to restore.

Expansion and contraction and constant, repetitive forces, can also leave a small gap known as marginal creep, where harmful bacteria can enter and become trapped, leading to further decay of the tooth. It is rare for Dr. Colleran to remove a silver filling and not find additional decay.

While amalgam remains a safe and viable restorative material, Dr. Colleran has chosen to no longer use amalgam in his practice, and hasn’t used it for more than 13 years. Most people find the silver fillings to be very unaesthetic and don’t want them. The days of silver mercury fillings may draw to a close in our lifetime. Our practice uses no silver amalgams, and will be happy to assist you in replacing older, failing amalgam restorations. Today’s porcelain inlays and composite resins create fillings that are not only natural looking but also stronger than materials of the past.

Inlays/Onlays

An inlay or onlay is a more conservative restoration for the tooth than a crown. While traditional fillings can reduce tooth strength up to 50%, onlays made of high strength resins or of porcelain can actually increase tooth strength by up to 75%, lasting on average from 10 to 30 years.

Inlays and onlays, created out of fired porcelain, allow Dr. Colleran to perfectly match the color of your natural tooth, making the restoration invisible to the naked eye. Other inlays and onlays can be made from gold.

Similar to a crown, Dr. Colleran will construct a temporary restoration, take a digital impression, and send the impression electronically to the lab for the CAD/CAM designed porcelain restoration. You will need to see Dr. Colleran to have the final inlay or onlay bonded to the tooth and polished.