Dental Sealants

When your child visits My New Jersey Dentist, we may suggest they have dental sealants as part of their preventive dental care plan. Treatment is entirely painless, quick, and cost-effective. It is extremely popular; roughly 42% of children aged between six and 11 and nearly half of children aged between 12 and 19 have had dental sealants to protect their adult back teeth.

What Are Dental Sealants?

Dental sealants are thin coatings of a flowable liquid that are hardened with a special curing light once painted onto the chewing surfaces of back teeth. They are made from various materials, including resin and glass ionomers, glass powders mixed with a water-soluble acid.

Because the sealants are made from flowable material, they can quickly coat all the grooves and fissures in back teeth, creating a smoother, easier-to-keep-clean chewing surface. Bacteria can no longer become trapped in the grooves and fissures, and the tooth surface is completely sealed. The dental sealants are thin enough not to interfere with your bite.

Who Should Have Dental Sealants?

Usually, we recommend dental sealants be applied to the chewing surfaces of a child’s adult back teeth, preferably soon after they erupt. Treatment can protect these more vulnerable tooth surfaces from ages six through fourteen, when kids are more likely to develop cavities.

Sometimes, we may recommend dental sealants for a child’s primary teeth. These can be helpful when these teeth have deep grooves and fissures that are especially tricky to keep clean with an ordinary toothbrush.

It is important to protect these baby teeth because they help with your child’s development and hold open the correct amount of space for their adult teeth to come through. When they are lost too soon to problems like tooth decay, there is a real risk that there won’t be enough room for the adult teeth, so they come through crooked.

Who Can Have Dental Sealants?

We can only apply dental sealants to teeth with no cavities or fillings, so we strongly suggest scheduling this treatment for your child soon after they get their adult back teeth. Adults may also have dental sealants if their teeth are cavity-free.

Occasionally, we can use dental sealants to protect back teeth with soft spots or small lesions, which are the first signs of tooth decay. Applying dental sealants, in this case, helps seal in the bacteria that could cause tooth decay, preventing it from worsening, but it is unusual to use sealants in this way.

What Is the Process for Dental Sealants?

It only takes a few minutes for our pediatric dentist or hygienist to apply the sealant to each tooth. The steps followed are outlined below.

1. Teeth are cleaned thoroughly before treatment and then dried.
2. The chewing surfaces are painted with an etching fluid, creating a slightly rougher texture so the dental sealant can bond strongly to the tooth.
3. The etching fluid is rinsed away, and teeth are dried again.
4. The dental sealant material is painted onto the tooth surfaces, forming a strong bond.
5. The sealant is cured with light to help harden it.

There is no downtime after treatment; your child can eat and drink normally after the appointment.

How Long Will Dental Sealants Last?

Dental sealants can last for several years but will need replacing periodically. We can check their condition every time your child has a dental exam and, if necessary, can replace them.

Does Dental Insurance cover Dental Sealants?

If your child has dental insurance, it will almost certainly cover the cost of dental sealants because this is a preventive treatment. Generally, the cost of dental sealants is only covered for people aged under 18.

Dental sealants are an easy and cost-effective way to help prevent tooth decay. They can last for years and are a great preventive dentistry treatment. Please get in touch with our family dentists for more information if you think your child could benefit.