Tim’s Story

“I’m not actually a very anxious person. But when I think of the dentist’s drill, even just the noise … that’s why I was a little alarmed when my dentist told me I had caries. At the back, where the molars are. I wasn’t feeling any pain at the time.

The dentist explained that you don’t notice anything at the start, not until a proper hole appears – and you have to start drilling. I liked the idea of treating onset caries with a liquid and no drilling. The whole process really wasn’t bad at all and I would definitely do it again.”

FAQ

The earlier the better, the sooner the less invasive.

Caries often start in the interdental spaces because this area is difficult for toothbrushes to reach. These places are difficult for the dentist to treat too. Once it gets to a certain stage, there is little else to do other than drill, and healthy tooth substance is always destroyed in the process. But:

If caries are detected ahead of time, there is another, less invasive solution.

Infiltration treatment with Icon

  • Stop the onset of caries - without drilling!
  • Healthy tooth substance is preserved
  • The tooth lives longer

Drilling & Restoration

Traditional caries treatment has decisive disadvantages

Very few patients like the dentist’s drill.
But not only is caries treatment by drill & fill unpleasant, to prepare the afflicted area for the restoration, healthy tooth substance must also be “drilled out”.

The ratio of caries to destroyed healthy tooth structure is extremely unfavorable, particularly for treatments in the interdental area.

Preservation instead of destruction

Infiltration treatment with Icon

1) Onset of caries before treatment

Cariogenic acids attack the enamel and draw out minerals. The tooth becomes porous.

2) Treatment with Icon

After being prepared with an etching gel, liquid resin is applied, which penetrates into the porous tooth tissue. The Icon infiltrant is then cured under light.

3) After treatment

The porous tissue is then filled and sealed. Acids cannot remove any more minerals, the onset of caries is stopped – before a hole can form.

Drilling is the beginning of the end ...

Why caries infiltration can pay off financially too.

First, the bad news:
the infiltration treatment must be paid for by patients themselves . The exact costs of this are ultimately determined by your dentist depending on your individual case. This will be somewhere within the region of what you would expect to pay for professional dental cleaning.

The good news: You can actually save money with infiltration. Because not only will an untreated, diseased tooth cause pain later on – it will also involve considerable expense, e.g. for good restoration work, for a crown or a bridge, or even an implant. Infiltration treatment can help prevent it from reaching that stage.