The future of dental filling materials?
Current technology is advancing at a shocking pace and your dental fillings are just one of the things that will likely change in the future. You better start getting familiar with this now.
As some of our readers and patients might know already, the history of dental fillings as been a complicated one. Humans had always tried to find a way to cover the decay of their teeth one way or another, experimenting with all kinds of materials. Researches have found filling made out of beeswax from 6500 years ago. Sadly, organic materials would tend to rot themselves of accelerate tooth decay. It wasn’t until the 1800’s when the amalgam was developed to fill the tooth with softened metal containing a mix of copper, silver, tin and mercury. For a long time the presence of mercury was a red flag for many people, even when the safe amount of mercury has been regulated to make it safe for patients.
Even here at Cancun Cosmetic Dentistry, we use white resin fillings to give it a more natural look. This way no one will notice the work in your mouth. You can smile all you want!
In any case, researchers at the Oregon State University have made some promising findings about the ability to “bioactivate” glass to reduce the ability of bacteria to attack composite tooth filling, and perhaps even provide some of the minerals needed to restore the decayed area. This would prolong the life of composite tooth fillings! The idea is to use this special crushed glass and use it as part of the filling. It’s called “bioactive” because the body notices it is there and can react to it, as opposed to other biomedical products that are inert. This will make strong
We will have to wait for them to continue their research. Hopefully, dentists in Mexico, USA and Canada will be able to use this new technology in the future to restore smiles on our patients. In the mean time, you can always come to our clinic during your vacation in Cancun.
If you want to know more about what our dentists in Cancun Cosmetic Dentistry can do for you call toll free from USA and Canada 1-800-701-6039, or if you are already on vacation in Cancun and want to meet us, you can call us for an appointment at the following local number (998) 1-40-51-25.