It has been said that teeth without dental sealants are like cars without seat belts. Dental sealants work to protect your child’s teeth against decay and cavities. Learn how they seal out tooth decay and safeguard health.
Dental sealants are important in preventive dentistry action plans. According to the CDC, Children between the ages of 6 to 11 years without sealants have almost three times more first molar cavities than children with sealants. But, first, what is a dental sealant? A dental sealant is a thin plastic coating (usually clear or white in color) that is applied to the chewing surface of your child’s tooth. This is done to “seal out” food, plaque, and bacteria.
Sealants help prevent the need for dental fillings. And, they are easily applied without drilling to the enamel or dentin. Sealants offer invisible benefits, but remarkable defensive power. Don’t be fooled by their easy application; sealants can make all the difference between a healthy tooth and a diseased tooth.
Dental sealants leave a barrier between your tooth and the sugars that come in contact with it. According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), “sealant placement in children and adolescents has shown a reduction of cavities’ incidence by 86 percent after one year and 58 percent after four years.”
The fact is, while good oral hygiene efforts are paramount, toothbrush bristles just cannot reach certain areas and grooves in your teeth. Deep depressions and teeth grooves trap food particles. As a result, sticky, hard-to-remove plaque accumulates. Then, sugars in the food your child eats produce acids that eat away at tooth enamel. Over time, these continued attacks from food acids weaken and break tooth enamel resulting in a cavity (or hole) in the tooth surface.
Most children are candidates for dental sealants. In fact, dental sealants are especially effective for children. Because children are more prone to cavities, sealants help protect the first molars that arrive around age six. These molars develop deep crevices called “pits and fissures” on the chewing surfaces of back teeth. Dental sealants seal-off these pit and fissure cavities in children.
The national oral health expectations for dental sealants, as stated in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020, include increasing the number of children and teens who receive dental sealants.
Although sealants are typically recommended for children and teenagers, they offer preventative benefits for adult patients with no tooth decay or fillings in their back teeth. Prevention keeps your oral health in optimum shape.
Dental sealant applications are quick and painless. And, no numbing medications are needed. The sealants procedure takes just a few minutes. A member of our Li’l Sunshine Smiles team will first clean your teeth and then apply a solution to the chewing surface to prime the enamel for sealing. Following this application, the sealing will be painted onto your child’s tooth enamel. Typically, the sealant will dry on its own. But, often we will use a curing light to accelerate the setting process. Once the sealant is set, your child can resume normal eating and drinking. Sealants last between 5-10 years with regular cleanings and attention to good oral hygiene.
Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood–but, it doesn’t need to be. Untreated tooth decay can have serious consequences with eating, speaking, and learning.When your child is a patient at Li’l Sunshine Smiles, our entire focus is on your children. Patients of Li’l Sunshine Smiles become a part of our dental family and enter a safe environment devoted to excellent oral hygiene habits and healthy attitudes towards dental visits/health. Call 813-576-0200 today to make an appointment!
1 Comment
[…] if you are practicing the very best in daily oral hygiene, your child can still develop cavities. Dental sealants can help seal out cavities that can creep into the deep crevices of teeth. These crevice-born […]