White is the new grey!

Dentistry is continuously in evolution. What was groundbreaking yesterday, can be evidence based today or maybe tomorrow. Researchers and scientists all over the globe are looking for better, stronger, faster and “healthier” restorative materials. This search sometimes leads to complete changes in treatment paradigms.

Pure superficially, these changes can even be correlated to a shift in dental material colors. Whereas 25 years ago, dentists were still trained and used to restore caries with amalgam fillings, today cavities are filled with all types of composite materials. With this evolution, not only the toxic mercury was banned out of the patients mouth, also the aesthetic aspect of the ugly silverish fillings was tackled. At the early times of composite materials, only a limited number of different white shades were available, whereas now we have a seemly unlimited differentiation between all kinds of “white”. Aesthetically we feature of a maximum of options to fill cavities or replace old fillings in an utmost acceptable aesthetic way. Compromises are not ubiquitous anymore: for every cavity there is an appropriate color!

At the early age of composites as a restorative material, there were as always supporters and opponents of this novelty. Since dentists are considered to be often a bit conservative, a majority believed that amalgam would remain the golden standard as filling material. Only sustained scientific reports and extensive publicity from the different composite manufacturers could change the prevailing opinion. And so nowadays, amalgam is almost a “no go” in restorative dentistry and is completely replaced by a fast evolving market of all kinds of excellent composite materials.