Tooth filling in Turkey

Composite is tooth coloured, bonds to the tooth and needs less healthy tissue removed than the old silver amalgam did. The European Union has now ended the use of dental amalgam in new fillings, with narrow exceptions, so in practice a new filling in Turkey will be composite.

Existing amalgam is a different question. Dental authorities do not advise routinely drilling out sound amalgam fillings that are doing their job. Removal takes away more tooth, and every replacement cycle moves that tooth closer to a crown or a root canal. Replacement makes sense when the filling is failing, when there is decay underneath it, when the tooth is cracked around it, or where an allergy has been diagnosed. A clinic that offers to swap all of your amalgams on one trip is selling something, not treating something.

• A small or moderate cavity

  The everyday case. Decay is cleaned out, the cavity is filled and shaped, and the tooth is back in use the same day.

• A filling that has failed

  Chipped, leaking at the margin, or decayed underneath. This is a genuine reason to replace, and it is a different thing from replacing a filling that is intact.

• A front tooth

  Composite on a front tooth is as much a colour and shape job as a repair. Shade matching in clinic lighting is not the same as shade matching in daylight, so ask to check it by a window.

• Past the point of a filling

  If too little tooth is left to hold a filling, or the nerve is involved, the honest answer is an inlay, an onlay, a crown or root canal treatment, not a bigger filling.

If the nerve is involved, see root canal treatment. For cosmetic composite work on front teeth rather than decay, see dental bonding and veneers. Gum health is assessed first: see teeth cleaning.

• An inlay or onlay. When the cavity is too wide for composite to hold reliably, a piece made outside the mouth and bonded in place is the step between a filling and a crown. It keeps more tooth than a crown does.
• A crown. Appropriate when very little sound tooth is left, or after root canal treatment on a back tooth. Not appropriate for a small cavity in an otherwise sound tooth.
• Root canal treatment. When the nerve is irreversibly inflamed or infected. Lingering pain to hot, or pain that wakes you at night, points this way.
• Nothing yet. Early decay in enamel that has not broken through can sometimes be monitored and remineralised rather than drilled. A dentist who never says this is worth a second opinion.
• Extraction. When the decay runs below the gum and bone and the tooth cannot be restored. Ask what the replacement plan is before the tooth comes out, not after.

If a tooth is lost, the options are set out on the dental bridge page.

• How many surfaces the filling covers. A cavity on one surface is a different job from one wrapping around a cusp, and the quote should say which.
• Front tooth or back tooth. Front teeth are priced for the colour matching and layering, not just the repair.
• Whether an inlay or onlay is needed. Made outside the mouth, so it costs more than a filling and usually needs a second appointment.
• Whether x-rays and the examination are included. Ask, rather than assume.
• What happens if it becomes a root canal. Agree the price for that in advance, because the decision gets made while you are in the chair.

The clinic list on this page shows each clinic's current price with a note on what it includes. For instalments, see payment plans. For treatment inside the tooth, see root canal treatment; for cosmetic composite, see dental bonding.

• Ask to see the x-rays with the dentist. On a screen, with the decay pointed out. A treatment plan that arrives by message without images is not a diagnosis.
• Ask who does the work. The dentist who examined you, or someone else on the day.
• Ask what warranty applies and for how long. Wording varies and travel complicates it. Get the terms in writing, including who pays for a return trip if something fails.
• Ask about follow-up at home. A filling needs checking. Know what your own dentist will need from them.
• Be wary of a full-mouth plan for one sore tooth. A sensible clinic treats the problem first and discusses the rest afterwards.