What are glass ionomer dental fillings?
Glass ionomer fillings, which our refer to as patients often”glass fillings“, have been used in dentistry for many years in different forms for different purposes due to the fluorine they contain.
Glass ionomer can be found in many dental products, including adhesives for crown and bridge prostheses and base materials under fillings.
Generally opaque white in color, glass ionomer fillings have improved their aesthetic and durability properties over the years. While they used to be mostly preferred in deciduous tooth fillings, today they are also used as long-term fillings in permanent teeth.
In our clinic, we use glass ionomer fillings as a temporary or long-lasting filling material in the fillings of permanent teeth close to the tooth core, depending on the area covered by the filling, as well as in deciduous tooth treatments.
What are the advantages of glass ionomer fillings?
Glass ionomer fillers provide ease of application in capsule form and shorten the sitting time of our patients. It contributes positively to treatment success in patients where time is a priority and in deep fillings. Due to these advantages, glass ionomer fillings are among the indispensables of pediatric dentistry, especially for our small patients who have difficulty sitting in the chair and for treatments performed under general anesthesia where time is limited.
Glass ionomer fillings, which also act as fluorine reservoirs, can attract fluorine ions in toothpaste and release them into dental tissues. Thus, dental tissues that have lost minerals are strengthened and the tooth is able to repair itself. Due to these properties, we prefer glass ionomer filling and bonding products for teeth that have become sensitive due to caries, teeth that need mineral support, and sensitive teeth that have been abraded for prosthetic procedures.
Nowadays, glass ionomer ingredients are added to the content of aesthetic filling and bonding materials in certain ratios to optimize these materials. While filling materials containing glass ionomers are frequently preferred in pediatric dentistry, glass ionomer-enriched adhesives are used to cement classical crown-bridge prostheses to the teeth in a more robust and non-sensitive manner.
