Restorative dentistry
¿What is restorative dentistry?
Restorative dentistry is a specialty whose objective, as the name refers to, I to preserve teeth and avoid their extraction. It embraces the treatments that are necessary to safe a tooth when this one is damaged by a partial destruction, fractured or worn out. Carious lesions are the most commonly found problem which affects dental enamel and requires a restorative treatment.
In order to treat a tooth, firstly, we eliminate all the affected tissue. After that, we rebuild it with the use of biocompatible resins known as composites. These resins provide the necessary features to seal completely the tooth avoiding bacteria to turn back in. This is what is known as filling.
Restorative dentistry is closely related with preventive dentistry. In order to prevent a caries, it essential to have a good oral-hygiene and periodical dental checks. It is primordial to detect a caries before it reaches profound tissues such as dentin or dental pulp (tooth’s nerve), in other words, before it starts to hurt, because in this case, the treatment might already be endodontic.
¿Why aren’t all the fillings the same?
Some patients believe that a “filling” is always the same, no matter which dental clinic provides the treatment, just as if it were a regular commercial product. Nonetheless, it is not this way regarding oral health.
In Clínica dental Padrós-Creus Muntaner we believe firmly that a “well-done filling” is the basis for a good dental treatment. A deficient filling will carry out in long-term major structure loss and even tooth loss. This is the reason to consider that we must treat caries in the first stages, putting all our efforts in diagnosis and well-performed treatments.
A filling is not a “simple treatment”. Firstly, dental adhesion is a very sensible process to the technique. It requires to work in a dry environment, isolating teeth from saliva and humidity, and using whenever is possible the rubber dam, a plastic which protects the teeth that are being treated. If the filling gets contaminated by saliva, it will fall or filtrate as time goes by.
The cavity or hole that the carious lesion produces to the tooth, must be thoroughly cleaned. We must be sure that all the affected tissue has been removed. When the dentist considers that the cavity is already clean, it is recommended to make sure by using Caries detector.
When the caries is near the dental pulp, caries dissolvents (Brix 3000) may be used to avoid the use of rotatory instruments that may suppose a risk to the tooth’s nerve. In deep caries lesions it is also indicated to use biocompatible materials such as biodentine or glass ionomers to regenerate the dentin. In our office, we have the idea of always using the best possible combination of material for each case individually.
In addition, a dental filling, should reproduce the tooth’s anatomy. A filling must be seen like a sculpture. The dentist must model the composite as a sculptor, applying all his knowledge about dental anatomy and occlusion, so that the patient can close correctly its mouth, fitting correctly the superior and inferior arches. Furthermore, even when sometimes isn’t even seen, we should try to reflect all the tonalities present in a natural tooth. In order to do that, there are available dental tints that can be applied in the precise spot. The restoration should be camouflaged and be imperceptible.
In brief, a “simple filling” is not “covering a hole in a tooth”. A filling involves knowledge, technique and art, which combined adequately will provide a great tooth restoration and long-term survival.
Our philosophy consists on high quality treatments for our patients.
The remarkable advances in the materials that we use for teeth reconstructions allow us to restore any tooth achieving almost perfectly the simulation of the different dental tissues. These materials are not only capable of reproducing the natural dental colors but also the different degrees of translucency and have great resistance to fracture and wear.
It is important to know and master the different techniques, as well as having available all the material options.
The adhesion to dental tissue is the most revolutionary development in dentistry. It enables us to perform a minimally invasive dentistry because we are able to bond to dental tissues and we don’t need to perform big retentive cavities anymore. Dental adhesion promotes the conservation of tooth structure!
The most used materials in dentistry to restore damaged teeth are the composites. The first composites came out to substitute for white fillings, the metallic fillings made out of silver amalgam. Nonetheless, in their beginnings these resins weren’t very resistant, they would wear easily, they were too white and wouldn’t seal correctly the union between the filling and the tooth.
The great evolution, year after year, has been spectacular, getting to the current situation. Nowadays, there is wide variety of composites, even some with quartz nanoparticles (0,001 diameter microns) which form nanoclusters.
In Clínica Dental Padrós Creus Muntaner we consider essential to have a wide selection of composites and to master all the techniques in order to provide a minimally invasive dentistry and a high functional and aesthetic quality.
