A medical text in China dating back to about 700 B.C. showed that metal tooth fillings have been around longer than historians ever expected. It wasn’t until the 19th century that compounds like silver, tin, and gold were being more frequently used to keep decay from eating away at teeth. While metal fillings were once considered the latest and greatest that dentistry had to offer when it came to cavity treatments, advances in technology have gained the field an even better, biocompatible solution called composite resin, or tooth-colored fillings. Read on to learn why studies suggest replacing your outdated metal fillings with better, aesthetically pleasing tooth-colored ones.
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