Tooth Colour Materials - Composites origins
The tooth colour restorative materials were first available for general use in the 60s. They were the first generation Composite, a resin based material which was then bonded to the enamel of the tooth by curing (polymerised) in the mouth, using a UV light source. They looked reasonable when first placed, (any thing looks better then the silver fillings) but in reality, it has created a great deal of new problems that the dental profession had not come across in the past.
To begin with, the earlier Composite was relatively soft compared with the traditional amalgam (silver) fillings. It wore down very quickly under normal chewing conditions. This caused flattening of the biting surfaces of the teeth and could initiate night grinding habit. The greatest problem of this earlier formula was the shrinkage that occurred during curing. This literally kept the margin of the restorations opened with leakage occurred as a result. If the margin of the restoration was not sealed, the restoration was doomed to fail. A lot of dentists recognised the inbuilt problems associated with this material and have refused to use Composite as a reliable replacement/substitute of the good old amalgam.
This was the case until the 80s when the qualities of Composite formula had improved to the extent that dentists had started to use Composite as a regular and sound dental restorative material.
Parent Section : Fillings