Most of us will have cavities during our lives. The National Institutes of Health reports that more than 90 percent of people develop tooth decay.
To put it another way, getting cavities is pretty common. It’s not anything that anybody wants, but it’s nothing to feel ashamed about, either.
It’s also not anything you need to worry about. For our patients in Encinitas and Escondido, CA, we have a few ways to repair your tooth and revive your natural-looking smile.
If you see signs of a cavity, please call us. Dial 760-576-2214 for our Encinitas, CA office or 760-477-0338 for our Escondido, CA location. We look forward to seeing you and your healthy smile at Willes Dental.
Fillings That Match Your Natural Teeth
Whether you have had a cavity or get one in the future, you should know that modern dental care has some great fixes.
At one time, metal fillings were your only option. These fillings could be gold or amalgam (a blend of mercury with other metals such as tin, copper, and silver). They did two things very well. First, they filled the hole created by tooth decay so you could bite and chew normally. Second, they provided protection against further decay.
Those are both invaluable benefits for restoring the function of a tooth. Yet, metal fillings also made some people self-conscious about their smiles.
You can change that by getting composite fillings instead. These fillings are made so they can match the natural color of your teeth. The composite material can be shaded, cured, and polished. When it is finished, you won’t know where the filling ends and the tooth begins.
We also can replace metal fillings with composite fillings when the metal fillings become worn out.
Same-Day Crowns Can Work, Too
Sometimes cavities are too big to treat with a filling. Other times, fillings have been replaced so often that there is no longer enough of the original tooth to contain a new filling.
In both of these instances, you can correct your problem by getting a same-day dental crown.
By taking advantage of CAD/CAM technology, you could get a permanent crown in a single visit to our office. The first step is scanning your teeth. Using advanced software, this data is used to guide the movement of our in-house milling machine. That machine turns a ceramic cube into the shape of a dental crown. That crown can be shaded to match the natural color of your smile.
While that is happening, we can reshape the decayed tooth to create an abutment to support your crown. When it is ready, we can cement the crown in place. Your smile looks as good as new and you are ready to get back to your everyday life.
You also may run into a situation when a full crown isn’t necessary, but a filling may not be enough to restore your tooth. For this, we can create an inlay or an onlay. The difference has to do with what part of your tooth needs to be restored.
Get Your Smile Back in Shape
Don’t let a cavity get you down. Defeat tooth decay with your own composite filling or a same-day crown.
Schedule an appointment at Willes Dental by calling 760-576-2214 for our Encinitas, CA office or 760-477-0338 for our Escondido, CA location.