Dentistry has certainly come a long way since
the old silver amalgam fillings. These days you can visit a San Luis Obispo Dentist and replace your old filling with new fillings that will last for years,
but dental aesthetics may not be the only reason to replace your old fillings.
Most people have no idea that tooth decay can
still develop underneath your old fillings, and worse yet, you may not even
know that you have cavities under your existing fillings. Your Dentist in San Luis Obispo will even tell you that the majority of cavities that occur under
fillings are painless because your enamel does not have nerves. It is only when
the tooth decay begins to penetrate the dentin that you might begin to feel
some sensitivity.
According to Dr. Deborah McNeil-Amorteguy,
your old metal fillings could be defective causing stress to your teeth. Your
old silver fillings are probably not bonded, which means that they could be
cracked. If your old fillings are cracked, bacteria can get underneath your old
fillings causing damage.
Unfortunately, do not do anything to prevent additional tooth decay and they certainly do not prevent cavities.
Tooth decay, or caries, is the bacteria that lives in your mouth and it is the
metabolic and acidic by products that attack your teeth. When your San Luis Obispo Dentist cleans out the hole and puts in a filling, she will make sure
that the filling is bonded, as the edges of your new filling are the perfect
place for new bacteria to grow. Once the bacteria start to build up, you could
be dealing with a new cavity under your filling.
Because old fillings will not usually cause
pain, you may not even know that you have tooth decay under your old fillings. If
you have sensitivity to hot and cold and persistent bad breath, it could be a
sign that your old fillings are covering up new cavities and tooth decay.
