Dental Restorations

Procedure Details

What happens before a dental restoration?

The procedures preceding a dental restoration depend on what type of restoration you’re having. Before any procedure, be sure to keep your teeth as clean as possible by brushing and flowing. Your dentist will discover cavities during a routine cleaning and schedule an appointment to apply fillings. For dentures, during a preliminary visit, they’ll measure your mouth and make models of your jaw.

What are the types of dental restorations?

Examples of restorations include the following:

• Fillings are the most common type of dental restoration. They fill a cavity in your teeth with gold, silver amalgam, or tooth-colored plastic and glass materials called composite resin fillings.
• Crowns are a tooth-shaped “cap” that is placed over a tooth to restore its shape and size, strength, appearance, to hold a “bridge” (fixed partial denture) in place, or to cover a dental implant. Teeth frequently need to be reduced evenly around the tooth so that the crown will perfectly restore the size and shape of the tooth. This is a long process and may involve an impression that is sent to the lab, with a temporary filling/crown in the meantime. Some offices have technology in which a digital impression is sent to a milling machine that will fabricate a crown in the office, sometimes in one visit.
• Implants are small, anchoring posts made of metal (usually of titanium or a titanium mixture) that are placed into the bone socket where teeth are missing. The implant may need an attachment called an abutment that will act like a crown preparation. It is then covered with a crown.
• Bridges (fixed partial denture) are false teeth that are designed to "bridge" the gap created by one or more missing teeth. Bridges can be anchored on either side by crowns and cemented permanently into place. Bridges are made from porcelain, gold, alloys, or a combination. Fixed bridges are inserted and removed by a dentist.
• Dentures are a removable replacement for missing teeth and surrounding tissues. Your teeth might be gone because of gum disease, tooth decay, or an injury. They are made of acrylic resin, sometimes combined with metal attachments. Complete dentures replace all the teeth. Partial dentures are considered when some natural teeth remain, and are retained by metal clasps attached to the natural teeth. There are three types of dentures: conventional, immediate and overdenture. A conventional denture is removable. It is inserted after several months once the remaining teeth are removed and the surrounding tissues have healed. An immediate denture is also removable. It is inserted the same day that the last of your teeth are removed. An overdenture is used when there are still some teeth remaining. This type of denture fits over the teeth, the remaining portions of teeth, or implants.

What should I expect after the procedure?

Following a dental restoration, your dentist might recommend that you change your eating and drinking habits for the next 24 hours:

• Eat soft foods.
• Eat foods that are cold.
• If you can handle the heat, try warm soup.

After any procedure you must continue brushing and flossing your teeth every day. Your dentist may ask you to only floss in one direction and pull the floss through so that you don’t dislodge a temporary restoration.