Restorative Materials in Pediatric Dentistry

Dental caries has been a highly prevalent and costly disease in the world, representing the most common infectious disease in the paediatric population. Caries risk is greater in children from rural setting, poor and from ethnic background or who have limited access to care. Restorative treatment shall be based upon the results of an appropriate clinical examination and ideally should be an integral part of a comprehensive treatment plan which should consider developmental status of the dentition, caries-risk assessment, the patient¿s oral hygiene, anticipated parental compliance and likelihood of timely recall and the patient¿s ability to cooperate for treatment. Materials such as glass¿ionomers, resin ionomers, resin ionomer products, and improved resin-based composite systems have been developed which are having profound impact on the restoration of primary teeth.