Steps A Dentist Takes To Finish Up A Filling

Dental fillings are one of the most common procedures performed by dentists, and they are used when people have cavities on their teeth. A dentist will remove the cavity from the tooth and then place a filling material in the hole where the cavity was. When the dentist finishes that part of the procedure, he or she will take several additional steps to make sure the filling feels right and is the right size and shape. Here are the steps a dentist will take to check these things.

Bonding paper

When a dentist places a filling in the tooth, he or she must make sure that it is not rubbing against the tooth that is either below it or above it. In other words, the dentist will want to make sure that when you bite down with your teeth, both sides of your mouth are touching evenly. If they are not, it could lead to problems.

To check this, a dentist will often use bonding paper. Bonding paper is typically blue in color and is placed over the filling the dentist just finished up. After placing it there, the dentist will tell you to open and close your jaw and to shut your jaw and grind it back and forth.

If the filling is the right size, there should not be any blue marks on your tooth from the bonding paper. If the dentist sees blue marks on your teeth, he or she will shave the tooth wherever it is blue to make it just a little smaller. The dentist will then recheck the tooth with bonding paper again.

Floss

The other important step the dentist will take after placing a filling in a tooth is checking the sides of the tooth with floss. If the filling is the right size and shape, the dentist should find some resistance when using floss in the areas next to the tooth. If there is too much space in these areas, you could end up with a food trap. A food trap is simply the name of an area in your mouth that attracts food. With a food trap, you may constantly feel like there is food in this area, and you may have to floss after eating each time to get the food out.

Dentists take these steps to make sure that fillings are accurate in size and shape. If you have not visited a dentist or orthodontist but would like to, contact a clinic today to set up an appointment.