| Restorative Dentistry in Santa Barbara
Dentistry has changed dramatically in the last few years and you can now get metal free restorations in place of your old silver fillings. Whether restoring a tooth to health or replacing an existing metal filling, there are varieties of mercury free restorations available.
The options vary from composite resins for smaller fillings to porcelain onlays and crowns for larger restorations. An onlay is like a smaller version of a crown in which more natural tooth structure is left untouched and intact. The benefit of these is that they protect fragile tooth structure and are chemically and physically "bonded" to your tooth, restoring it back up to 97% of its original healthy strength.
Before
After
The reasons for choosing mercury free restorations are quite compelling: safety, strength and appearance! Today, silver-mercury (metal) amalgams are obsolete. If you have old metal fillings or even if you have new ones, your teeth and your health are at risk! Not only do metal fillings detract from the appearance of the teeth, turning them dark and gray, they also damage the remaining part of the tooth they're meant to protect.
Metal fillings expand and contract with temperature changes. This movement weakens and cracks teeth. It also creates space between the tooth wall and the filling, allowing bacteria to enter, causing decay. Even worse is the controversy of the hazards of amalgam fillings showing that they leak mercury toxins for up to 20 years!
Alert the FDA has recently ruled and reclassified dental amalgams as a potentialy hazardous material!
We at our office pride ourselves in calling our office not
only a mercury free office but a mercury safe office ! Extra safety measures are taken to safely remove toxic metal fillings from your mouth, from the use of rubber dam barriers, removal under heavy water and the patient use of positive oxygen so no mercury vapors are being picked up..
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