Fillings

Cavities are like snowflakes: no two are exactly alike, and how we deal with your child’s cavity depends on many things, including your child’s age, the cavity’s location, and how much longer we think the tooth is going to stay in the mouth.

Cavities are permanently damaged areas in your child’s teeth that develop into tiny openings or holes.

Fillings restore a tooth that has been penetrated by a cavity to help prevent infections and further damage to the infected tooth or neighboring teeth.

Fillings are important because infections can grow to more serious problems, causing damage to gum tissue, your child’s jawbone, or their incoming permanent teeth.

Dr. Pollock uses modern fillings, including plastic compounds that look and perform like natural teeth, and ceramic fillings, which are usually made of porcelain, that are tooth-colored, and less likely to stain over time. Plastic composite resins are often used on visible front teeth, and ceramics are typically used in teeth that chew, mostly toward the back of the mouth.

There are a lot of factors and considerations when a filling is needed, and Dr. Pollock will make sure you have all the information regarding durability, performance, and expense of each alternative so you can make the best decision for your child.

Crowns

Crowns are used to restore and enhance teeth when a cavity is too large to be fixed with a filling. For example, if a cavity is on multiple surfaces of the tooth, or makes up a large portion of it, a filling has a high probability of breaking. In that case, Dr. Pollock might recommend a crown because it will preserve the integrity of the tooth.

Crowns can strengthen a tooth and improve a tooth’s appearance, shape and alignment, which is especially important for children because their mouths are still growing and permanent teeth are coming in.

Remember that baby teeth eventually fall out, typically by age 12, making your child’s crown’s effectiveness and usefulness our primary consideration. As with all decisions made here, you are a part of Team Pollock and will be involved in all decisions made on behalf of your child’s teeth.