San Diego Dentist

Since the mid-70’s, we have been able to bond tooth colored dental material or fillings to enamel.  Even when I entered dental school in 1975, we could replace a chip on a front tooth by bonding.   It works like this:  W e  first  do is place a mild acid on the tooth.  This etching process creates million of rough surfaces that we can then place a clean bonding agent, or resin which latches into the roughened enamel surface, creating a micro-mechanical adhesion.  We then place the tooth colored filling material over that resin, which bonds to the resin chemically.

Well if this process has been around so long, what improvements have you seen in the material you now use over the earlier materials?

Dentists have long known that fluoride supplements reduce children's risk of tooth decay. They also increase the risk for a condition called fluorosis. A new Norwegian study supports these facts.

Researchers from the University of Bergen, Norway, and the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, did the study. It involved 660 children who lived in Bergen. Dentists examined them for tooth decay and fluorosis. Fluorosis is a condition caused by swallowing too much fluoride. It usually involves white spots or streaks on the teeth. They often are not noticeable.

All of the children's families were mailed questionnaires. The survey asked about the children's past use of fluoridated toothpaste and fluoride pills.

Norway does not add fluoride to its water. Its guidelines for fluoride use in children are the same as those in the United States.