Kids Dental Houston TX

Kids dental Houston TX provides all of the procedures and information needed to help children achieve good oral health. There are many times when children need a dental filling. In fact, tooth decay, which is called dental caries, is the most common chronic disease among children and fillings are the most common treatment for the decay. Your kids dental Houston TX specialist may recommend a metal, plastic, or sedative filling for your child. Metals are most commonly used.

Metal Fillings

Metal fillings are also referred to as amalgam. Dental amalgam is a mixture of about 50% mercury with silver, copper, and tin to be used as a dental filling. Mercury is the compound which binds the metal and provides a hard, durable, strong filling. One of the questions parents often ask at our office for kids dental Houston TX is whether it is safe to use mercury. There has been no study which has suggested that the use of amalgam has any negative health effects.

One drawback of amalgam is that more of a tooth must be removed to place the filling because it doesn’t bond chemically to the tooth. A metal filling is held in place by the shaping work that the dentist does. Benefits of metal fillings include:

  • Less time is needed to place them, as compared with plastic fillings.
  • If decay involves several tooth surfaces or is between two back teeth, metal fillings are more reliable.
  • The history of using metal fillings goes back more than a century. The fillings have proven to be successful in fulfilling their intended purpose, particularly for molars, which are the back teeth. Molars are exposed to extreme chewing and biting force.

Plastic and Sedative Fillings

The American Dental Association has found no difference between the effectiveness of amalgam and plastic fillings over a three-year period. There are really no significant negatives to using plastic fillings, other than that the process of placing plastic fillings is more complicated, requiring more time in the dentist’s chair at kids dental Houston TX.

Benefits of plastic fillings include:

  • They are bonded to the tooth, which helps prevent further decay.
  • The filling releases fluoride, which strengthens teeth and helps prevent decay.
  • A smaller hole is needed to place a plastic filling.

Sedative fillings are used as a stopgap measure for pain. They last only about three to six months.

Does your child need a filling? Contact us today, your kids dental Houston TX, for an appointment.

FUN FACTS ABOUT HOUSTON TEXAS

  • The most expensive home currently listed for sale in Houston is on Longfellow Lane in the Rice/Museum district.  The house sits on almost two acres, has more than 12,000 square feet of living space and is listed for sale at $16,500,000
  • The tallest building in Houston is the 75 floor JP Morgan Chase Tower which stands 1,002 feet tall.  It is also the tallest building in Texas.
  • The highest temperature ever recorded in Houston was 109 degrees.  The record high was at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on September 4th, 2000 and again on August 27, 2011.
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