Direct Restorations

Direct restorations are more commonly known as “fillings”.

There are two main materials used in direct restorations. They are the amalgams or silver fillings and the composites. There are also white or tooth-coloured bond filling material. Neither of them are perfect and listed below are the pros and cons of each.

Composite vs. Amalgam

There is a third type of filling material called Glass Ionomer. It is tooth coloured, has some self-adhesive properties, and is the only filling material that has the ability to release fluoride with time. The downside however, is that it cannot withstand chewing forces, so it cannot be used for fillings on the chewing surfaces of teeth.

Filling material can in many situations create very conservative aesthetic results i.e. closing up a gap between teeth or repairing fractured or chipped teeth.