What Are Dental Sealants?

As a child, Im sure that many of you, as a basic dental service

, have had sealants put on your teeth. Sealants are a great thing to have done when youre a child. But what are sealants exactly? In a nutshell, sealants are way to protect your childs back teeth from decay. They are safe, painless, and they are low-cost. Sealants have been used for more than 20 years to help protect the teeth of children.

A thin, plastic tooth colored or clear coating is bonded to the outside surface of the premolars and molars of the mouth. That coating is the sealant meant to protect the back teeth. Tiny grooves form in the back teeth as they grow. These grooves are where decay happens mostly with children. No matter how well you brush your teeth, the tooth brush cant get into the grooves to get rid of the food and bacteria that can and will get trapped there. This sealant forms a hard shield that will protect your teeth from food and bacteria from getting into the grooves of the teeth. Without the bacteria and food getting in there, decay cannot happen. Thus, the sealant has done its job.

How are the sealants applied?

First, the tooth is etched with a mild acid to create retention for the sealant. Once this is done, the tooth is rinsed and air dried. Secondly, the liquid sealant is painted into the grooves of the teeth, and to harden the sealant into place, a high intensity light is used to activate the liquid plastic, which then hardens.

Another question you may want to know, since this IS your childs mouth after all, is how long do these sealants actually last once theyre in? Well, realistically, they will probably last 2 to 4 years as a reasonable estimate, but they can last up to 10 years. Sealants can be highly effect in protection against cavities, assuming the sealant is always monitored y a dentist. Every time your child goes to the dentist, he or she (the dentist, not the child obviously) should be checked up on to see if the sealant needs to be re-applied.

Why arent sealants used on all of the teeth in your childs mouth? The liquid that is used to for sealants is designed to flow into and fill the pits and grooves of the molars. Unfortunately, this plastic wont work on the smooth services of the other teeth, such as the front and side teeth. As a dental service, the benefits of having sealants applied outweigh the cost of filling a tooth if it gets a cavity. As a parent, you should check with the dentist about how sealants cost.

Oh, the wonders of dental services and technology. What cant it do?

by: steveanderson

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