What Do Holistic Dentists Use to Fill Cavities?
Tooth-coloured composite, bonded directly to the tooth, and BPA-free. No amalgam — none is placed here and none has been for fifteen years. Where a cavity is too large for a filling to hold, a milled ceramic onlay rather than cutting the tooth down for a crown. The material matters, but how much healthy tooth has to go to place it matters more.
What goes in
Composite: a tooth-coloured resin that is bonded to the tooth rather than held in by shape alone. It is placed in layers and set with a light, and it is BPA-free.
Because it bonds, the cavity only needs to be as big as the decay. A filling that relies on mechanical grip has to be cut to a shape that holds it, which means removing sound tooth that was doing nothing wrong. That difference is the main reason composite is used here, ahead of any question about materials.
What does not
Amalgam. It is not placed at this practice and has not been for fifteen years. The reasons are partly that it needs an undercut shape cut into the tooth to stay put, and partly that people increasingly do not want it — which is reason enough when a good alternative exists.
That is separate from whether existing amalgam should come out. A sound amalgam filling is treated as sound. Replacing one is a decision with its own reasons, and we have a page about how it is done safely when there is a reason to.
When a filling is the wrong answer
Past a certain size, a filling stops protecting the tooth and starts stressing it. A large composite in a back tooth flexes under load, and the tooth can crack around it.
At that point a bonded ceramic onlay is the better answer: milled to shape, bonded across the cusps so it holds the tooth together, and placed without cutting the tooth down the way a crown requires. Same principle as the filling, applied to a bigger problem.
The question underneath
People ask what holistic dentists fill teeth with, and the honest answer is that the material is the smaller half. What separates one filling from another over twenty years is how much tooth was removed to place it, whether the bite was checked afterwards, and whether whatever caused the decay was addressed.
A tooth has a finite amount of itself to give. Every restoration spends some of it.
Questions
Is composite as strong as amalgam?
Modern composite performs well in the sizes it is designed for, and because it bonds, the tooth around it is stronger than it would be around a filling held in by shape. For large cavities neither is the right answer; a bonded ceramic onlay is.
Is composite BPA-free?
The composites used here are. If that matters to you, say so and we will talk through what is being placed before it is placed.
Do you remove amalgam fillings?
Where there is a reason to — a failing filling, decay underneath, a crack, or a genuine sensitivity to mercury. We do not replace sound ones as a matter of course. When we do remove one, it is done with isolation and high-volume suction.
How long does a composite filling last?
It depends far more on the size of it, your bite and your decay risk than on the brand of material. A small one in a low-risk mouth can last many years; a large one in someone who grinds will not.
What about glass ionomer or other materials?
They have their uses, usually in children or where moisture cannot be controlled. What suits your tooth is decided at the appointment rather than in advance, and we will tell you what we are using and why.