Sealants

Taking care of your children’s dental needs is of the utmost importance. Making sure their teeth are properly protected and maintained from the start will help to ensure a healthy, more confident future as well as provide beautiful smiles for a lifetime. Sealants can help provide the daily protection your children’s teeth require in case brushing after a meal isn’t possible or regularly done. With leftover sugars and starches serving as a food source for the bacteria that develops after meals, harmful acids are produced as they attack the natural enamel. With repeated acid exposure, enamel can eventually wear thin and ultimately result in cavities.

What are sealants?

Sealants protect the grooved and pitted surfaces of the teeth, especially the chewing surfaces of back teeth where most cavities in children are found. Made of clear or shaded plastic, sealants are applied to the teeth to help keep them cavity-free.

As teeth develop, deep crevices called “fissures” evolve. When two or more fissures join, a pit is created. Although daily brushing, rinsing and flossing can eliminate remaining food particles and plaque from the surfaces of the teeth, toothbrushes do not always reach the deeper pits leaving these areas once again exposed to harmful bacterias and their resulting acids. This is where tooth sealants can help.

Sealant application process

Easy to apply, sealants take only a few minutes to seal each tooth and do not require any type of injection. Sealants hold up well under the force of normal chewing and can last several years before a reapplication is needed.

Sealants are white, resin-based product that when applied sinks deep into the fissures and pits of the tooth. In addition to filling and sealing these deeper places where toothbrushes often fail to reach, Sealants have the added protective benefit of releasing fluoride to the teeth further guarding them against harmful bacterial agents. Decay will not start under a tooth sealant because the decay causing bacteria are deprived of the food they need to survive. Because children are more prone to tooth decay than adults, it is beneficial to apply the tooth sealant before their teeth have had a chance to begin the decaying process.

How long do sealants last?

Tooth sealants will typically last several years when exposed to normal chewing forces, and will generally take several minutes per tooth to apply. The procedure is easy and painless, and offers major protective benefits. It is critical however to have your dentist check the condition to be certain that the sealant remains intact on the teeth to further insure the tooth’s protection from decay. When necessary, tooth sealants can easily be re-applied. With tooth sealants protecting your child’s teeth, you can rest a little easier if an occasional brushing is missed.

If your child has had sealants placed, please be aware of the following: