“Do fillings make teeth weaker?”
I am 33 year old male. I want to know if fillings make teeth weaker?
8 Answers
They can. Consult your dentist.
Fillings themselves do not weaken teeth. However, if a tooth needs a filling, then the tooth has a cavity, which basically means part of the tooth has been eating away due to tooth decay. Having a cavity is what weakens the tooth. It's kind of like a wood patio deck getting a rotten spot in the wood and patching it. It is weaker than before. The patch work didn't weaken the deck. The rotted part of the wood weakened it. The patch fills the void and gives it some strength. But, the deck is now weaker than before it rotted. The same thing applies to teeth. Obviously, the larger the cavity, the weaker the tooth will be regardless of the type filling placed in it.
Dear Reader,
Great question. Do fillings make your teeth weaker? The answer is yes. Nothing beats the original condition of your teeth. Replacing tooth structure with a filling reduces the strength of a tooth. But no one would do that to a healthy tooth. We place fillings to replace decayed, diseased tooth structure which is far weaker than healthy tooth. Bonded fillings, done correctly, will restore a tooth to approximately its original strength. If you want to keep your teeth strong, don't get cavities. But if it happens, small conservative tooth bonded fillings will keep them nearly as strong as a healthy one.
Hope this helps,
Steven Chamish, DDS, FAGD, FIOCI
Great question. Do fillings make your teeth weaker? The answer is yes. Nothing beats the original condition of your teeth. Replacing tooth structure with a filling reduces the strength of a tooth. But no one would do that to a healthy tooth. We place fillings to replace decayed, diseased tooth structure which is far weaker than healthy tooth. Bonded fillings, done correctly, will restore a tooth to approximately its original strength. If you want to keep your teeth strong, don't get cavities. But if it happens, small conservative tooth bonded fillings will keep them nearly as strong as a healthy one.
Hope this helps,
Steven Chamish, DDS, FAGD, FIOCI
Yes, ultimately, a filling makes a tooth weaker. Especially so if the filling is very big and it eats up the inside of the tooth. But, if you have a cavity and you don't repair it with a filling, you will lose the tooth. So, it's best to put a filling in when the cavity is small.
Yes. When you have decay, you drill away part of the tooth and replace with filling material. The origin, intact tooth is stronger. Fillings do weaken a tooth, depending on the size and location of decay.
Nothing is stronger than a virgin tooth with no fillings.
Russell A. Sassack, D.D.S.
Russell A. Sassack, D.D.S.
It depends on how much tooth structure has to be removed. It is decay that makes teeth weaker.
Tooth decay makes teeth weaker. Bonded (white) fillings restore tooth integrity.
