White Fillings Middlesbrough

Most people do it for appearance, particularly when a dark filling shows when they laugh. There are clinical reasons too - older amalgam fillings can be large, worn, or have cracks running from them, and the tooth around them can weaken over years of expansion and contraction. We'll tell you honestly whether yours needs replacing or is fine left alone.

UK and European regulators consider amalgam safe for the general population, though its use is being phased down for environmental reasons. We don't recommend removing sound amalgam fillings on health grounds. If you'd like them changed for how they look, that's a perfectly good reason, and we're happy to do it.

Replacing a silver filling with a white one starts from £145, and new white fillings start from £99. The cost depends on the size of the filling and which tooth it's in. Denplan Essentials members get 15% off. See the fees page for the full list.

Modern composites are strong and, on most teeth, last comparably well. On very large fillings in back teeth taking heavy bite force, a crown or an onlay is often the more durable answer than a very large white filling, and we'll say so rather than doing something that will need redoing.

Yes, in most cases. We remove the old filling, clean the tooth, check whether there's decay or a crack underneath, and rebuild it in the same appointment. Occasionally what we find underneath means the tooth needs something more, in which case we'll stop, explain and agree the plan with you before going further.

It can be for a week or two, particularly to cold, and particularly if the filling was deep. That normally settles by itself. If it's still sensitive after a few weeks, or it hurts to bite on, ring us and we'll check it.