Regular dental care, especially flossing and daily brushing, is the best way to minimize the risk of cavities and thus avoid the need for dental treatments and fillings. Unfortunately, despite great efforts, most are forced to fill teeth damaged by caries. What is this procedure, when is it carried out and is there here alternative?
Treatment of caries - what is it?
This is one of the main dental procedures that almost every adult will face sooner or later. Currently, it is estimated that about 90-95 percent of the adult population suffers from caries, and the only effective method of treating it is dental fillings, that is, a cavity filling procedure performed by a dentist.
The filling allows you to restore damaged hard tissues of the tooth, the most common cause of which are:
- improper oral hygiene,
- malnutrition,
- associated caries.
Sometimes caries can also be caused by mechanical trauma - a chipped or broken tooth. In other words, a tooth filling is a dental procedure that closes an existing hole to prevent it from growing further and completely destroying the tooth. The earlier the cavity filling procedure is carried out, the lower the risk of pain, there is no need for anesthesia, and the shorter and cheaper the treatment.
What does a dental filling look like?
The procedure can be divided into several stages, each of which affects the success of the entire operation, the strength of the filling and its good adaptation to the bite. In principle, the process of filling cavities can be divided into four main stages:
- tooth treatment,
- cavity preparation,
- tooth restoration,
- its adaptation to the patient's bite.
The first stage, that is, fixing the treated tooth, consists in separating it from the rest of the tissues so as not to damage them during drilling and guarantee the dentist maximum comfort during work. The preparation of the treated area consists primarily in the placement of absorbent tampons and a saliva ejector in the oral cavity, which is responsible for sucking out excess saliva from the oral cavity.
The second stage is the process of removing hard tooth tissues that have already been damaged by caries. The accuracy of this step is especially important for the durability of the filling and protection of the tooth from further degradation. Cavity preparation is the most unpleasant stage of treatment.
The third stage is tooth filling, that is, its reconstruction. There are two main types of fillings in use today.
The last stage of treatment is the adjustment of the filling surface to the patient's bite. This is done by machining the seal, grinding and polishing it. Thanks to modern photopolymer fillings, as well as the greater availability of safe anesthetics, filling has become a less burdensome procedure for the patient and gives better results. It is also worth remembering that these types of treatment are the basis of conservative treatment and in the era of widespread caries, the only effective way to maintain a full-fledged dentition for most of life.
