Failure of Dental Restorations
Fillings have a finite lifespan: an average of 12.8 years for amalgam and 7.8 years for composite resins. One advantage of gold restorations is longevity, because gold can outlast other materials by three to five times longer. When describing other materials, dentists talk in terms of years of service, whereas with cast gold, dentists speak of decades of service. To achieve the greatest longevity, gold dental work must be done with sufficient skill and precision, so discerning patients should seek gold dentists with quality training, experience and expertise.
Fillings fail because of changes in the filling, tooth or the bond between them.
Amalgam fillings expand with age, possibly cracking the tooth and requiring repair and filling replacement. Composite fillings shrink with age and may pull away from the tooth allowing leakage. Quality dental gold is the most biocompatible material used in dentistry today, being non-corrosive and hypo-allergenic. Dental gold’s wear rates and coefficient of thermal expansion is very similar to tooth enamel, which minimizes gaps, leakage or repair due to expansion differentials over time.
As chewing applies considerable pressure on the tooth, the filling may crack, allowing seepage and eventual decay in the tooth underneath. Gold margins do not break or chip even when thinned and polished, and can maintain microscopic gaps even smaller than the diameter of bacterium that cause tooth decay.
The tooth itself may be weakened by the filling and crack under the pressure of chewing. That will require further repairs to the tooth and replacement of the filling. On the other hand, less tooth structure is removed when preparing teeth for gold dental restoration, which leaves the tooth stronger and healthier.
Gold restorations, if done properly, could last the lifetime of a patient. As life expectancies increase, thoughtful dental material choices become even more important to reduce the number of times that fillings and other restorations must be replaced. Repeated repairs to teeth can lead to pulpal inflammation and necrosis, root canal therapy and the eventual necessity for crowns in lieu of fillings. Restoring a tooth only once, with highly durable, non-toxic, biocompatible materials like gold, can be very appealing to discerning patients, and be less costly and painful in the long run.
If fillings leak or if the original bond is inadequate, the bond may fail even if the filling and tooth are otherwise unchanged.
Read more about this topic: Dental Restorative Materials
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