How Long Do Dental Sealants Last?

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Dental sealants are coatings applied to your back teeth that can help you stop cavities from forming. You can think of them as a roadblock for plaque and bacteria, so they don’t have the opportunity to burrow into the tooth and cause cavities. If you’re interested in this procedure, we’ll look at the benefits as well as how long they last.

How Do Dental Sealants Work?

When a dentist applies a dental sealant, first they clean the tooth and then dry the surface entirely. This is to ensure that no moisture or plaque can potentially get trapped inside the tooth. Then, an acidic solution will be applied, which will create small openings in the enamel, so the sealant can bond. The dentist can then apply the liquid sealant, so it can be hardened into a smooth barrier.

How Long Do Dental Sealants Last?

A well-applied dental sealant in St. Cloud, MN can last for about 10 years, though the average is between five and seven years. The difference in lifespan largely comes down to how the sealant is applied. While the general steps of the process are pretty easy to explain, the actual quality of the work can vary widely based on the dentist’s technique. Sealants are more than just time in a dentist’s chair, it can be a financial commitment as well. This is why it’s so important to find someone qualified to get the most from your investment.

Dental Sealants in St. Cloud, MN

Dental sealants are typically recommended for younger people, either children or adolescents. This is because their back teeth have more crevices in them, making the dental sealants more effective. Once the holes are filled in, there’s less space for the sealant to bond to. However, that doesn’t mean that adults can’t benefit from the treatment. While less common, some adults have been known to successfully use dental sealants to prevent cavities.

Preventative dentistry in St. Cloud, MN can save you a lot of time and money overall. If you have questions about how to keep cavities at bay, the staff at Friesz Family and Cosmetic Dentistry is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about what procedures will work best for you and your loved ones.

Why You Might Need a Filling Restoration

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A filling is one of the most common procedures performed in a dental practice, but not everyone knows that restorations are completed for a number of reasons. We’ll look at why you might need a filling in St.Cloud, MN, and how you can find the right dental professional to get your oral health back on track.

Tooth Decay

This is one of the most common reasons for dental restoration. Your teeth can be affected by decay even when your hygiene habits are impeccable. A dentist will use a drill to take out any affected portions of the tooth and then fill in the gap with a long-lasting material, such as composite resin. Even if you have a small hole in the tooth, it’s important to take action sooner than later. The longer it’s left untreated, the bigger it’s going to get.

Fractured Teeth

If you’re looking for a dentist in St. Cloud, MN after an emergency, such as a slip-and-fall or sports-related accident, it might be because a tooth has fractured. Anything from contact athletics to chewing on the cap of a pen can lead to tooth fracture. While major injuries may require more advanced treatment, a filling can potentially be the answer if you need minor repairs.

Surface Remedies

If your teeth become discolored, some dentists may use fillings to both strengthen and whiten them. Unlike teeth brightening services, this might be used for more extreme cases. For instance, if you grind your teeth at night or have years of stains built up on the surface of your teeth. Anything from wine to candy to coffee can affect the color of your teeth, and the effects can have a real impact on your smile.

Find a Dentist in St. Cloud, MN

The term restoration is entirely appropriate when it comes to describing a filling. A dentist is literally making the tooth whole, which in turn makes the mouth more stable. At Friesz Family Dentistry, you can count on our staff to perform fillings correctly the first time. We understand just how important it is to care for each individual tooth, so you can achieve better oral health. Contact us for more information about our services today or make an appointment.

Why do Dentists Use Drills to Fill Cavities?

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When you go to get cavities filled or a filling restoration in St. Cloud, MN, your dentist may use a drill. Few people enjoy the sound of a drill being used in the mouth, so it may help to know exactly why dentists use drills to fill cavities.

Drills Aren’t Used to Actually Fill Cavities

The thing is, dentists don’t use drills to fill cavities. The drilling is done to clean and prepare the tooth to accept the filling. A great way to think about this process is using an example of a similar situation.

If you’ve ever had to patch a hole in drywall, you know that the edges of the hole are uneven; jagged, even. If moisture or other materials have gotten on the drywall, you don’t want that to spread into the patched area. So first, you have to get rid of the moisture. Then you have to clean up the edges of the hole before you can patch it neatly.

This is almost exactly what the dentist is doing when he drills before filling a cavity in St. Paul, MN. He or she is drilling away areas of the tooth that are infected with bacteria. Otherwise, that bacteria would continue to grow until your whole tooth is rotted out. So that’s one reason why your dentist uses a drill.

Next, the dentist needs to neaten up around the perimeter of the cavity. This is so that the filling completely fills in the hole and there are no tiny cracks or areas for bacteria to enter the interior of the tooth.

Drilling is a necessary preparatory step in filling cavities, but it’s not done to actually fill the cavity. That’s an entirely different step that comes after the cavity in the tooth has been properly prepared.

Now that you know what the drilling is really for, you can rest easy when you hear that sound. It’s actually the sound of your dentist in St. Paul, MN making sure that he does quality work on your cavity filling so it lasts as long as possible. After all, cavity filling is a way to preserve your natural teeth. When you think of it that way, drilling doesn’t sound so bad, does it?