The role of glass-ionomers in paediatric dentistry

Abstract

Children provide many challenges in clinical dentistry and behaviour management. All dental care provided for a child should consider the characteristics of that individual such as age, behavioural capabilities and ‘total treatment load’. Especially in the child at high risk of dental caries, the use of low-viscosity glass-ionomer cements (GICs) in timely protection of ‘at-risk’ surfaces of molar teeth is of great benefit. The selection of an appropriate restorative material can be influenced by the caries risk, age to exfoliation of the primary tooth, size and position of the carious lesion, pulpal status and other factors such as appearance. Gics are the primary material of choice for the ..