White

Modern white fillings are hard wearing and look good.

It is possible to replace your old silver amalgam fillings with white, porcelain or ceramic fillings. Today, if you need a silver filling replaced, your dentist will usually offer you a white one. Sometimes people decide to have their amalgam filling replaced with white ones simply to make their teeth look better. The white fillings also do not contain mercury (which can be contained in the silver fillings), a concern for some people as mercury has been linked to health scares. The choice of material is based upon the size, so please discuss it with your dentist. These filling materials are available in different colours so the dentist can colour match them to your natural teeth.

The ingredients are a resin called bisphenol A glycidyl methacrylate (bis-GMA) and filler particles which usually consist of silica. Other constituents include bisphenol A dimethacrylate (bis-DMA), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA).

Your new white filling will be set straight away - so you can eat on it - but be careful eating if you are still numb - you don't want to bite yourself!