Treatment of dental caries

Dental obturation, commonly called “filling”.

A dental filling is the restoration of a tooth that has been damaged by decay. The bacteria that produce dental caries demineralize the tissues of the tooth softening it and resulting in a loss of substance, what we usually refer to as a cavity or cavitated lesion. When this treatment is performed, the tissue softened by the cavity is removed and the affected tooth structure is replaced with another tooth-colored material called composite resin or “composite”. There is a shade guide with a multitude of different shades to compare it with the whole of our tooth and place this resin of the color most similar to ours.

Minimally invasive restorative treatment

Incipient caries (those that are beginning to appear) can be treated without the need for a filling on certain occasions. If they are not cavitated, caries generated in enamel can be treated with infiltrating resin, a novel material that avoids invasive treatment and facilitates accelerated remineralization and healing of the lesion. At the root level, these incipient caries can also be remineralized with high concentration fluoride varnish. Several remineralization appointments of these lesions will be required to get this caries lesion to stop, as well as a very good level of oral hygiene on the part of the patient.

Reconstructions and inlays

For more extensive or deeper caries, we may need a reconstruction (obturations o larger fillings) ore ven an inlay, which is a “custom-made covering” that replaces a part of the natural Crown of the tooth, restoring its anatomy and functionality. It is common for us place inlays after endodontic treatments in which the tooth is quite weakened to give it greater resistance to fracture.