There are many types of the fillings. We use the composits – plastic ceramics (white filling in the coolour of the tooth). We have decided for the composite fillings because they enable the principle of the minimum grinding, which means that the dentist removes only the sick part of the tooth, while the healthy one is kept and therefore its longevity is prolonged.
Moreover, the aesthetic look of the tooth is incomparably more beautiful.
White materials require complete drying which is sometimes hard to assure in mouth. Therefore in some circumstances a white filling is not possible to make, for example when there is a great deal of tooth missing or when the decay reaches under the gums. In such cases it is better to decide for an onlay or a complete dental crown.
The amalgams are in the developed world hardly in use, just in some particular cases.