I am not saying amalgam fillings are bad...in fact they are very very strong and last for many years. Its a great material to use to fix up teeth!
However once they are cracked, they start to leak and bugs can get inside the tooth, eating the tooth away
I have been helping alot of patients coming in with painful tooth and almost always see cracked amalgam fillings
Below is one such example seen today:
As you can see, the filling inside the red circle has lots of cracks in it and about to fracture.
I removed the entire amalgam filling and this is what I saw:
Found some deep decay on the way but overall I could save the tooth
Now, time to place white filling.
After placing is beautiful white filling on the tooth, I have place some natural amatomical groove to replicate the structures of the real tooth.
Below is the final result:
Looks alot better, I reckon!
My advice is, our body is like a complex machine. We need to maintain our body and replace parts that are faulty. If you see any fillings that are old and cracking, don't hesitate to fix them up. I am glad I was able to save the tooth above today. If the tooth was left like that longer, then it would have cracked even further to the point of no return.
