A small cavity today is a quick, comfortable fix, and at Annapolis Dental Center in Annapolis it is a natural-looking one too. Tooth-colored composite fillings bond to your enamel, match your tooth shade, and go in during a single easy visit.
Why We Use Composite, Not Silver
Composite resin has quietly become the workhorse material of modern restorative dentistry, and for good reasons. It is matched to your enamel shade, it bonds to (rather than merely sitting in) the tooth, less healthy tooth has to be removed to place it, and there is no mercury involved.
The finished restoration reads as your tooth, not as dental work. That matters when the filling lines your smile, and it still matters thirty teeth back: a healthier seal against future decay starts with material that actually adheres to enamel instead of wedging inside a drilled shape. When a cavity is too large for a filling alone, we step up to porcelain crowns or inlays and onlays instead.
- Shade-matched to your enamel
- Bonds to and strengthens the remaining tooth
- Mercury-free by practice policy
- Most cavities completed in one visit
A Filling Visit, Minute by Minute
What happens in the chair
Gentle Numbing
The area is numbed completely. Smaller cavities often need little or no anesthetic at all.
Decay Removed
We remove only the decayed structure and shape the space conservatively, preserving as much healthy tooth as possible.
Layered Composite Placement
The composite is placed in thin cured layers, rebuilt to your tooth’s natural anatomy.
Bite Check and Polish
We test your bite on ribbon paper until contact feels exactly right, then polish to a natural sheen.
Watch-and-Wait, or Fill Now?
Not every shadow on an X-ray needs a drill today. Small areas of early demineralization can sometimes be remineralized with fluoride and cleaner habits alone, which is exactly what we try first when it is safe. When decay has crossed into dentin, waiting only guarantees a bigger fix later.
At your exam we show you the images, mark the difference, and make the call together. If a watch is honest, that is what we write down, with a specific date to recheck.
- Early demineralization can often reverse
- True cavities are cheaper small than big
- We show you on screen before we recommend
- Specific recheck dates, not vague watches
