Plastic Restorations for Primary Teeth

Abstract

Plastic restorative materials available for primary teeth range from the traditional amalgam through to the newest version of compomers. Despite the lack of strong scientific evidence of any medical problems to the use of amalgam restorations, there have been vociferous calls for the abandonment of amalgam in many parts of the world, because of mercury. The European Parliament, in March 2017, agreed its final version on regulation of mercury. Based on the new regulation, dental amalgam could only be used when strictly deemed necessary in children under the age of 15, and with pregnant/breastfeeding women. At the same time, there have been questions raised over the use of the new composite resin materials as well because of organic components. At the present time, therefore, the available materials encompass amalgam (when deemed absolutely necessary), glass ionomer cements, composite resins, and compomers.