Before After

Metal-Free fillings

There was a time when silver-mercury amalgam was the material of choice for filling cavities.
Thankfully, times have changed.  But some dentists have not.  If you still have metal dentistry in your mouth, your teeth are at risk. 

Silver-mercury fillings react to temperature changes, expanding and contracting within your delicate tooth.  This movement can weaken the tooth wall, causing it to break or chip.  The movement also allows harmful bacteria to get in under the filling, causing further decay. 

At Drs. Roger and Pamela Schmidt's office, we practice metal-free dentistry.  We only restore teeth with porcelain inlays and onlays, and bonded porcelain crowns.  The porcelain restorations are stronger than metal, more conservative, and safer for your teeth.  Best of all, they're virtually invisible, keeping your smile white and attractive.

Until recently, dental patients have been told that repairing teeth with white fillings was just for cosmetic purposes, and white fillings may not be as durable as the metal restorations.  This philosophy is now passe'.   With the modern technologies of dental adhesion, resins, lasers, and state-of-art ceramics, the new porcelain restorations are close to rivaling nature in strength, wear, function and appearance.

There are now sixteen year studies showing that with properly administered technique, these advanced restorations surpass traditional dentistry.  With these new materials, it is possible to bond teeth back together, virtually restoring them back to their virgin state without the invasiveness of full-coverage crowns. 

In the majority of circumstances, metal fillings or crowns can be replaced with techniques that are more conservative.  It is therefore possible to preserve the healthy remaining tooth structure rather than whittling teeth down.

Metal-Free Onlays

If you have large metal fillings in your mouth, you may want to consider replacing them with porcelain inlays or onlays.  Metal is antiquated and dangerous.  Reactive to temperature changes, metal fillings move within your teeth, expanding and contracting, causing molars to break, chip or crack.  This movement also allows bacteria to get around the tooth wall to cause even more decay.  We very rarely replace metal fillings without finding undetected decay beneath the filling.  Porcelain inlays and onlays replace metal with safe, strong, attractive restorations that require less drilling, allowing more of the natural tooth structure to be retained.