California Dental Labs

Posts Tagged ‘Long’

I will have mine done (2) at 10am one day, can I go back to work the next day

I had three back teeth pulled, and the dentist gave me the instructions to care for them. I am doing all of them, but one of them says not to drink through a straw….my question is how many days after having the extraction can you drink through a straw? Thanks.

I made the transition (in my mind anyway) to using white fillings in back teeth about 20 years ago. It was at that point that every physical property that mattered was at least as good in the white fillings. HOWEVER – you must be meticulous when placing white fillings. A poorly placed white filling will have new decay under it within a matter of weeks or months – not years. If I can not get a good (dry) environment for placing a white filling, I sigh a little bit and go ahead and use a silver filling. If you do a search on the safety of silver amalgam fillings, you will find time and time again that the ADA, AMA and anyone else that matters says that they are safe. No legitimate study has been done to show that they are dangerous. There are days that go by that I don’t use any silver at all, but then there are days when I place 2 or 3 silver fillings and I’m glad that I still have that option.
As far as asking how long tooth-colored fillings last, let me say this. I have been putting white fillings in some back teeth for about 25 years, way before the material was really designed for this application. Many of those fillings are still there, because I was very cautious about where I did them. I’d say I was really on the bandwagon by about 1985-1990 and practically every while filling I’ve done (to my knowledge) is still serving. That’s “only” 15-20 years for the oldest ones, but I have only just begun to see some that need replacement because of wear and those that I am replacing are around 20 years old or more.