Options for filling cavities

Dentist Gina Gonzalez, DDS, shares advice for parents on the different options available for filling your child's cavity and explains the benefits and disadvantages of each type
Options For Filling Children's Cavities - Dental Health For Kids
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Options for filling cavities

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There are a lot of choices today for cavity fillings. Decay is the primary disease of children in America today. A lot of children do suffer from extensive dental disease. We have all sorts of filling materials. We have white filling materials. One of them is a composite or a resin. That is a material that is bonded into the tooth and actually makes the tooth stronger. The benefits of a composite are that the tooth looks white when it's done, so it looks like a natural tooth. It also strengthens it from the inside. That is the primary material we use today in children. There is also glass ionomer, which is also a white filling material. The difference with that one is that one contains some fluoride in it. It is for children who are highly susceptible to recurrent decay, where they have had multiple fillings and multiple attacks of decay in their mouth. This is a white material that strengthens the tooth the same way that bonding does, but also adds a little bit of fluoride to give them additional protection. There is the traditional silver fillings, that were mostly used in the past. They are still used today. They are a mixture of copper, zinc, and mercury. You place it into the tooth. It's a strong material. It's long lasting, but it does have mercury vapor that leaks out of the filling in very minute amounts throughout the lifespan of the filling. Sometimes we make other choices that do not have any byproducts. The white do not have any byproducts, the silver one does.

Dentist Gina Gonzalez, DDS, shares advice for parents on the different options available for filling your child's cavity and explains the benefits and disadvantages of each type

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Gina Gonzalez, DDS

Dentist

Dr. Gina Gonzalez, DDS has been interested in dental care most of her life. She started working as a dental assistant in high school.  After graduating, she pursued her career by attending the University of Southern California from which she earned a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene in 1982.  She was involved in creating new standards for dental hygiene in Spain where she also developed a dental hygiene school.

Dr. Gina Gonzalez earned her doctorate of dental surgery from the USC School of Dentistry in 1991.  As a lifelong learner, Dr. Gonzalez continues to study preventive and esthetic dentistry at renowned educational institutions all over the United States.  Her certifications include CEREC technology and Invisalign.  In addition to providing superb dental services to patients in her office, she dedicates her knowledge and skill to many philanthropic projects in the community and worldwide.  Annually, she is involved in a dental mission to Guatemala in which she provides dental care to people who would go without it otherwise.  She also regularly serves the elderly in Southern California through the Oral Eldercare Program. Dr. Gina Gonzalez is part of the USC School of Dentistry Board of Directors and is a member of the American Dental Association and the California Dental Association.   

In her leisure time, she enjoys Salsa dancing, participating in the art of Krav Maga and entertaining her two wonderful daughters.

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