"Fill It Up With Regular"
It's not that simple. there is variety of materials
currentlyavailable
to fill that cavity. Here's a brief summary:
Material
Silver Amalgam
Composite
Gold
Ceramic
What Is It?
An alloy of silver, mercury, and smaller amounts of tin and copper. ("Amalgam" is the proper term for any alloy of mercury - there's no such thing as "Mercury Amalgam")
Plastic resin reinforced with filler particles of silicon dioxide (glass) or zirconium. Composite is the concrete of filling materials.
Gold,
platinum, palladium.
Essentially the same as jewelry gold
Porcelain was the first ceramic material in dentistry. Current ceramics are its much stronger descendants.
Advantages
Lowest Cost
Low cost, white colour
Strong, durable.
Suitable for crowns as well as fillings
Strong durable, and white.
Suitable for crowns as well as fillings
Disadvantages
Mercury content is controversial
Unesthetic.
Fills the hole, but adds no strength
Expands and contracts, contributing to wear and stress cracking in large fillings
Fills the hole, but adds only little strength.
Shrinks, contributing to wear and stress cracking in large fillings
Thecolour:
love it or hate it.
Higher Cost.
Lab-produced;
2 appointments needed
Higher Cost
Has
traditionally taken 2 appointments.
(We recently tried a computer
system which makes
them in the office, and may purchase one when the system is perfected.)
Cost
The cheapest
Slightly more than amalgam.
Up to several times that of amalgam
Similar to gold
Strength &
Durability
Fair to good with small fillings. Poor with large fillings
Barely as good as amalgam; still poor in large fillings
Still unsurpassed: the "Gold Standard" of restorative materials. Lifetime is up to several times that of the cheap filling materials
Approaches gold