The Only Way

Placing a resin bonded white filling in the upper second molar is a challenging task under ideal circumstances. In less than a perfectly controlled environment, placing a bonded filling in a second molar is a total waste of time and money and it will fail in relatively short order causing either a toothache or a swollen face.

 What does 'under ideal circumstances' mean?

I t means that the dentist has complete visualization of the entire tooth, can see all of the tooth decay so that it can be removed and preventing all saliva from touching the tooth during the bonding process.

If the dentist does not use a rubber dam for isolation, and 95% of dentists do not use a rubber dam, there is virtually no chance of seeing the tooth clearly, eliminating all tooth decay and placing a well bonded resin filling. The rubber dam was first used in the mid 1800s  and I have used one for almost 40 YEARS.

Why would any patient pay a dentist to place a filling that has 100 % chance of failure? And the bigger question is, "Why would a dentist not use a rubber dam?"

In a word: LAZINESS.

The tooth closest to the bottom of the photo and that has a rubber dam clasp is the second molar. The  top photo shows all the tooth decay removed and the bottom photo shows a perfectly placed direct resin bonded filling. Note the abscence   of  the tongue,   lips, and saliva.This is definitely a very cool way to restore teeth.