Composites are the most common dental restorations used in dentistry today. Also known as bondings, dental composites are tooth-colored fillings used to repair damaged teeth.
Composites come in different shades and can be matched to the particular color of your tooth. Usually they blend very well with your teeth to provide beautiful, seamless, and long-lasting bondings and tooth fillings.
Composite fillings are made of malleable thick paste that can be molded in the mouth to the shape of the tooth. Once the shape is achieved, they are hardened with a special blue light which is applied to the filling or bonding. Some people mistakenly call these blue lights "lasers".
Composites are used any time a small part of the tooth structure needs to be replaced due to cavities, chips, or wear. Dental composites are used to replace up to a third of the tooth being repaired.
If the damaged area is larger than a third of the tooth, composites are no longer the best option. In fixing larger areas of a damaged tooth, composite dental bondings are harder to maintain in the long term, and are more difficult to blend with the existing tooth. In this case, a ceramic (porcelain) restoration would be used to fix the chipped tooth.
At Making You Smile, we feel these composites are the best option to repair small problems with your teeth and ensure long lasting, positive results. For more information on composite, call us today (646) 484 0197.