Most people have some form of filling in their mouth. Nowadays, fillings are not only functional, but can be natural looking as well. Many people don’t want silver fillings that show when they laugh or smile because they are more conscious about the way they look.

Because silver fillings are opaque to X-Rays, it makes it difficult to see a cavity under the filling until it has become quite serious. Research has shown that if you don’t use any X-Rays you can see around 50% of what is going on under the filling and even with a full set of X-Rays you will still only see about 80-85%. So, there is 15-20% of cavities that won’t be able to be seen because the metal can block out the damage.

Does that mean white filings could help prevent decay?

Research has shown that silver fillings do not strengthen your teeth. So, a silver filling in a tooth, essentially acts like a wedge and when you bite down on the filling the forces are spread to the remaining tooth structure.

If the filling is large there is a good chance that the tooth is going to crack, break or chip. Because silver filling material was sometimes just packed into the tooth, there is no bond of the silver filling to the tooth. This is not the case with white fillings. The force of chewing is distributed over a larger amount of tooth, making the tooth around 20% stronger with white fillings.

The cost

Costs usually depend on the size and type of white filling used and the time it takes to complete the treatment. At Amsel & Wilkins, tooth coloured fillings start from just £65 a tooth. With an initial consultation being just £51, there has never been a better time to consider changing your silver fillings to white ones.

Give your loved ones this special gift

If you wanted to treat your family or friends to white fillings, we can offer you gift vouchers, available from as little as £10. You could make a loved one’s birthday or Christmas extra special. Just give us a call, or email us for more details on our gift voucher options.