White Fillings
Fillings are a fairly common treatment and many patients will have had silver mercury or amalgam fillings placed by their NHS dentists over the years, but not many people realise that this type of filling can weaken the tooth. The tooth is effectively packed with the silver mercury amalgam and, as the filling expands, cracks in the tooth enamel can occur when chewing. Often this leads to parts of the tooth fracturing off.
A safer solution is a white (or tooth coloured) filling. However the procedure is much more technique sensitive and requires complete isolation from moisture in the mouth (saliva) otherwise the bond of white filling to tooth is broken. These fillings can be made of composite or porcelain and due to its tooth-like colour has the benefit of looking like a natural part of the tooth.