Benefits of Dental Sealants

Brushing and flossing are the best ways to help prevent cavities, but it’s not always easy to clean every nook and cranny of your teeth, especially those back teeth used to chew called molars, but still, there is another safety device that can be used to help keep those teeth clean. It’s called a molar sealant.

Dental sealants are plastic coatings usually placed on the chewing or occlusal surface of the permanent back teeth, the molars, and premolars, to help protect them from decay.

They have various uses, and there are both dental sealants for adults, and there are for kids as well.

Who should get sealants?

Children and teenagers are obvious candidates for sealants because of the likelihood of developing decay in the depressions and grooves of the premolars and molars. However, adults without decay or fillings in their molars can also benefit from sealants.

Typically, children should get sealants on their permanent molars and premolars as soon as these teeth come in. In this way, the dental sealants can protect the teeth through the cavity-prone years of ages 6 to 14. In some cases, dental sealants may also be appropriate for baby teeth, such as when a child’s baby teeth have deep depressions and grooves. Because baby teeth play an important role in holding the correct spacing for permanent teeth, it is important to keep these teeth healthy so they are not lost too early.

How Are Dental Sealants Placed?

Applying sealant is a simple and painless process. It takes only a few minutes for your dentist or hygienist to apply the sealant to seal each tooth. The application steps are as follows:

• First, the teeth that are to be sealed are thoroughly cleaned.
• Each tooth is then dried, and cotton or another absorbent material is put around the tooth to keep it dry.
• An acid solution is put on the chewing surfaces of the teeth to roughen them up, which helps the sealant bond to the teeth.
• The teeth are then rinsed and dried.
• Sealant is then painted onto the tooth enamel, where it bonds directly to the tooth and hardens. Sometimes a special curing light is used to help the sealant harden.

Sealant For Sensitive Teeth

One important use of sealants is for the treatment of sensitive teeth.

The purpose of a dental sealant is to prevent tooth decay. The sealant will connect to the grooves and dips in your teeth. The sealant forms a shield over the enamel of your teeth, protecting them.

Brushing and flossing can help you to remove any remaining particles of food and plaque from the smooth surfaces of your teeth; however, it is very easy to miss the small nooks towards the back of your mouth where food can lurk.

Sealants can work on protecting these especially vulnerable areas from developing tooth decay. It will do this by sealing the teeth and preventing plaque and food from getting in.

How Long Does A Dental Sealant Last?

Sealants can protect teeth from decay for up to 10 years, but they need to be checked for chipping or wearing at regular dental check-ups. Your dentist can replace sealants as necessary, and you can, for this reason, visit our clinic so you can come to see a dentist in Okemos.

Taking Care Of Sealants

Sealed teeth require the same conscientious dental hygiene as unsealed teeth. Your child should continue to brush and floss their teeth daily and have regular professional cleanings. Checking for wear and tear on the sealants is important, though they should last for up to 10 years. During this time, your child will benefit from a preventive treatment proven to reduce decay by 80%.

While the incidence of cavities in children remains quite high, preventing cavities is always better than treating them, and it’s also much cheaper!