Composite fillings are also known as white fillings and are made of composite quartz resin that appears white. Composite fillings are very strong and can produce the same result as amalgam fillings. Composite fillings are commonly used at both the front and back teeth to help keep the natural appearance of the teeth and a person's smile.
The procedure to set a white filling to a tooth with decay involves the following technique. A dentist will give you a local anesthetic to numb the area. The dentist then prepares an access to the decayed area of the tooth and removes the decayed portions. With a composite filling you can preserve more of the natural tooth as the composite resin can be bonded to the tooth in thin layers. A special dental material is then used to open up the pores of your tooth's dentin and roughens up the surface of the exposed enamel to achieve a better and stronger bond. A bond resin is also applied to stick the composite to your tooth. This resin material is made of the same dental resin as the composite however it is much more fluid. The layer is then hardened and cured with a very bright light. Composite resin fillings are applied in thin layers and slowly built up to form the complete filling. A bright dental light will harden each layer before the next is applied.
