What Types of Dental Fillings Are Right for Children?
Have you heard a pediatric dentist near you talk of dental fillings for children? Perhaps you should be keener to listen next time. Although dental fillings have been popularized as restorative solutions for adults, they are equally beneficial to children. Once your child has teeth, there are solutions for preventive and restorative care that involve using dental fillings to benefit your child’s dental health.
What Are Dental Fillings?
They are materials used in dentistry to repair and restore damaged teeth. Dental fillings near you target diseased and damaged enamels, restoring them by substituting the damaged part with foreign material.
Technically, the dentist will need to shave the part of your enamel that is damaged. Afterward, using a type of dental filling, he/she will replace the removed portion of your enamel.
Types of Dental Fillings in Pediatric Dentistry
In many cases, dental fillings are used for adult dental restorations. However, children too have oral needs for dental fillings. A kids’ dentist in Greenwood will use different types of dental fillings for both preventive and restorative measures. Types of tooth fillings used in pediatric dental care are:
- Glass ionomers – are otherwise referred to as dental sealants. They feature acrylic material often used for preventive dental care. When applied to teeth, these types of tooth fillings slowly release fluoride with time. The goal is to boost the strength of teeth through remineralization and protect teeth against dental cavities.
- Composite resin fillings – are tooth-colored tooth fillings featuring composite resin. The resin is applied in a putty-like condition, then hardened to adhere to the tooth. The best part is that you can choose the color of composite resin to match the color of your child’s natural teeth.
- Metal fillings – although not commonly used to restore children’s teeth, metal fillings are viable types of fillings for teeth. They come in different materials, ranging from gold alloys to silver alloys. They are great for restoring permanent teeth because of the sturdiness of the metallic components. However, non-metal fillings are better suited for younger children than metal ones.
4 Reasons Why Need Kids Need a Dental Filling
You never have to deliberate about dental care when there is an oral problem that needs medical attention. However, the value of dental fillings for children’s teeth is more than that, including for the following reasons:
- As preventive dental care – children are more prone to dental caries when they reach six years old. As such, you should determine to enforce preventive measures like dental sealants to prevent cavities from forming in the first place.
- To preserve baby teeth – kids’ baby teeth are not supposed to last forever. However, they are still important for their oral health. Premature baby tooth loss causes various dental issues, including overcrowding, improper bites, to mention a few. To prevent such problems, Dr. John Patangan recommends getting dental fillings, even for baby teeth. Such protective care ensures that baby teeth are lost at the right periods so that shortly after, permanent teeth can erupt.
- To preserve permanent adult teeth – permanent teeth are supposed to last you a lifetime. However, when they erupt early in your childhood, there is an increased risk of damaging them before you are well into your adult life. Therefore, getting dental fillings prevents dental extractions based on damaged adult teeth.
- For urgent treatment – many children who need dental fillings solicit help from an emergency pediatric dentist in Greenwood more often than not. The reason is that dental damage like tooth decay is commonly associated with urgent symptoms like severe dental pain and swelling. Getting dental fillings is one of the ways to treat urgent dental issues for children.
Summary
Dental fillings have no age restrictions. As long as you have teeth, you can benefit from the treatment. The best news is that children can capitalize on dental sealants for both preventive dental care and restorative dentistry. Therefore, even before your child has their first dental cavity, they can get tooth fillings called sealants to prevent them.