what do cavity fillings look like these days?

[gplanet]

I have my first cavity, gotta get it filled. my parents have fillings and they're these huge metallic chunks in their teeth. please tell me they now make them smaller and white or clear

 

[wfbberzerker]

not clear (theyre still made of metal), but its just a small little patch (usually silver?) on a part of your tooth. if its in the molars (where they usually are), no one will notice.

 

[gplanet]

it's a molar. my parents' fillings are on their molars but it's like their entire tooth is covered with metal

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: gplanet
it's a molar. my parents' fillings are on their molars but it's like their entire tooth is covered with metal

thats probably a crown on their tooth. that happens when the tooth gets a crack in it. a filling is only on a very small part of the tooth.

actually, now that ive looked online a little bit, it turns out there are white fillings, called composites.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

If you can, avoid getting mercury fillings. They can lead to mercury poisoning in some cases, and are generally bad for you.
There are these things called "milk fillings," I believe they're some sort of cement mixture and they're white, I highly reccommend getting those.

Especially cool are "painless dentistry" offices that don't have to inject with novicane or drill in order to give you a filling, they just essentially sandblast the rotten piece of tooth and then pack that cement stuff in it, quick and painless. It can suck if your teeth are sensitive to cold though, then you'll be wishing for the novicane.

 

[Lars]

Last time I went to the dentist I got ceramic fillings.

 

[Nefrodite]

what they do when they fill teeth is drill a wedge shaped gap where the cavity is. the wide part is on the inside, this helps keep the cement in. they used to only have the silvery cr@p, but now if your insurance is good or you pay more u can get tooth colored cement. i think the silvery stuff is more wear resistent though.