“So what is this stuff I’m hearing about called silver diamine fluoride or SDF?”

Silver diamine fluoride has been available in the United States for a few years. It’s purpose is to stop the progression of cavities. Though this is new technology, GV Black, the father of modern dentistry used silver nitrate on baby teeth and then had kids expose their teeth to the sun. So this idea has been around for over a century. Unlike traditional means of drilling and filling an area of a cavity, the SDF is brushed on the cavity and a resulting hardening of the diseased cavity area occurs. It’s about $40 per tooth in many dental offices and can be a great option. The process of painting the SDF on the carious area (cavity) takes no more than a few minutes. The drawback to it is that it turns the area where the cavity existed black, very black. By using silver diamine fluoride vs. traditional drilling of a diseased portion of a tooth out, your child can possibly avoid going through a procedure if he/she meets certain conditions that you should speak to your dentist about. If at a later time you as a parent decided that you would like the black part of the tooth to be fixed and you don’t want to continue to look at the black areas in the teeth, the teeth can be restored with composite or glass ionomer. These mentioned materials match the shade of the natural teeth, but do require a visit to the dentist to restore them.