Composite Resin for Dental Procedures

One of the most popular types of dental filling or dental restorative material used today is dental composite resin. According to cosmetic dentistry beverly hills practitioners, dental composites are used in a variety of cosmetic dentistry practices such as with dental veneers and dental bridges or fixed partial dentures. Compared to other forms of dental restorative materials or fillings such as amalgam and gold, composite resins can be made to resemble the appearance of the natural tooth. They are strong, durable and cosmetically superior to silver or dark grey colored amalgam fillings.

The real advantage of using dental composite resins in restorative procedures is that it can be used for indirect applications as well as for direct application. On the other hand, the main advantage of a direct dental composite over traditional materials such as amalgam is improved aesthetics. Composites can be made in a wide range of tooth colors allowing near invisible restoration of teeth.
Dental Composite Resin Development

Initially, composite restorations in dentistry were very prone to leakage and breakage due to weak compressive strength. In the 1990s and 2000s, composites were greatly improved and are said to have compression strength sufficient for use in posterior teeth. According to cosmetic dentistry beverly hills practitioners, today's composite resins have low polymerization shrinkage and low coefficients of thermal shrinkage, which allows them to be placed in bulk while maintaining good adaptation to cavity walls.

The placement of composite requires meticulous attention to procedure or it may fail prematurely. The tooth must be kept perfectly dry during placement or the resin will likely fail to adhere to the tooth. Composites are placed while still in a soft, dough-like state, but when exposed to light of a certain blue wavelength; they polymerize and harden into the solid filling.

Many cosmetic dentistry beverly hills specialists agree that it is challenging to harden all of the composite, since the light often does not penetrate more than 2-3 mm into the composite. If too thick an amount of composite is placed in the tooth, the composite will remain partially soft, and this soft unpolymerized composite could ultimately irritate or kill the tooth's nerve. A good dentist will place a deep filling in numerous increments, curing each 2-3 mm section fully before adding the next.

In addition, the clinician must be careful to adjust the bite of the composite filling, which can be tricky to do. If the filling is too high, even by a subtle amount, that could lead to chewing sensitivity on the tooth. A properly placed composite is comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, strong, durable, and could potentially last 10 years or more.