“Drill and fill” is the basic dentistry method applied to treating cavities. Essentially, dental care professionals first remove the soft decayed area of a tooth with special instruments, and one of them happens to be an ominous, high-speed drill that people in Costa Rica and around the world seem to have a predisposed phobia against. The filling comes after the drilling, and it may involve synthetic or metallic material.

For more than a century, getting caries filled has been a virtual a rite of passage in many cultures; nonetheless, many people consider it to be one of the most unpleasant experiences they must endure.

In Costa Rica, advanced dental practices such as the Flikier Dental Institute use white fillings, which are composite resins are used in dentistry as restorative material or adhesives.

Synthetic resins evolved as restorative materials since they were insoluble, aesthetic, insensitive to dehydration, easy to manipulate and reasonably inexpensive. These materials are more aesthetic than the ugly amalgams of yore, and they can be applied with dentin and enamel bonding techniques that aim to restore the tooth back to near its original physical integrity.

In the end, however, white fillings are still fillings that may require drilling. What if there was a technique to completely avoid the cycle of drilling and filling? After all, teeth are supposed to replace their lost enamel through a natural process, which is unfortunately a lot slower than tooth decay.

It so happens that a British dental research firm is working on a technique that aims to somehow push calcium and phosphate minerals right into the enamel. This technique would get rid of drilling; instead, a dentist would apply a special solution to the caries, which would then be bound with an electric charge that patients will not feel due to its low intensity.

The British firm is called Reminova, and its solution is currently being perfected for pediatric dentistry. In the future, it may become available to adult patients as well.