Dr Vincent states – ‘I get asked all the time ‘What are dental fillings?’…

As soon as a cavity begins in the tooth, the hole can be difficult, sometimes impossible, to clean by brushing, especially between your teeth where the bristles of a toothbrush cannot reach. If you cannot clean these holes, then the harmful bacteria that caused the cavity in the first place can easily collect there, and eat away at the tooth, making the hole larger.

Eventually, the hole can become so large that it reaches the central nerve of the tooth, and the resulting infection causes an abscess. Dentists’ like to avoid this situation, as it means having to have either a root canal treatment to remove the infected nerve, or having the tooth removed. This brings us onto fillings…

When your dentist places a filling, they are using a drill to access and clean out the hole, removing the harmful bacteria and removing any soft rotten bits of tooth in the process. This will make the cavity clean, hard and healthy again. The cavity then needs to be filled with a strong material. The filling acts to protect and cover the hole, stopping bacteria from collecting inside and making the area easier to clean. Similar to teeth, fillings need to be regularly brushed. Otherwise, bacteria can collect along the filling margin and create yet another cavity. So please look after your fillings and more importantly, if you look after your teeth then you shouldn’t need any fillings in the first place.