No matter how diligently you brush and floss, chances are you’ve found at least one cavity during your lifetime. While dentists treat cavities on a daily basis, this common procedure can still seem intimidating. Knowing how the process works might help alleviate your stress if you have a filling scheduled.
First, your blood pressure will be taken by the dentist or the assistant.
At this point, they might apply a topical anesthetic so you will not feel any needles. Now the local anesthetic can be injected to prevent you from feeling anything further in the procedure.
After you are fully numb, the dentist can begin to remove the decayed area from the tooth with a drill. A cavity detector will help ensure they found all of the decay. Now the dentist can prepare the tooth for the filling by applying an acid gel known as “etch.” Once the etch has prepared the tooth, the composite filling can be inserted.
While the insertion is surprisingly fast, a dentist will then spend more time finessing the appearance of the filling to make it look as natural as possible. The final step is to cure the resin of the filling with a special light.
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