The Dental Educator – Seal Out That Decay
The Dental Educator – Seal Out That Decay
Hello Everyone, My past few columns have dealt with the relationship between oral health and general health. This time I would like to focus on a strictly dental item of interest, sealants. I’m sure that most of us have heard of them but are not familiar with how they work. I only wish that they had been around, along with fluoride, when I was a kid. I would have saved myself countless hours in the dental chair having my teeth fixed. So what are sealants? How do they work and who are they for? Before I tell you, let me relate an incident that happened to me a few years ago. My wife had been urging me, for some time, to get a snow blower. I was resistant because big machines really scare me. “Look,” she said, “You’re not getting any younger, and the boys have moved out. How long do you think you can continue shoveling the drive way with a plain snow shovel?” Well, my resistance finally caved in and I got a good snow blower for several hundred dollars. At the end of that winter, which, of course, saw no snow, my wife asked me sheepishly, “Are you upset that I made you go out and buy a snow blower that you ended up not using?” “No,” I said. “I sort of looked at it as an insurance policy. I’m sure that had I not gotten the snow blower we would have had plenty of snow this past winter, so it was worth the investment.” Hypothetically speaking, sealants would be for anyone with adult molars. Practically speaking, however, sealants are not for everyone. Lets first see how they work and then we can see for whom they would work. When an adult tooth, particularly a molar, and less so with a bicuspid, has deeply pitted grooves on its biting surface, which would be prone to cavities, the dentist, with the approval of the patient (or the parent if the patient is a child) may elect to apply a sealant to that tooth. Deeply pitted grooves are prone to decay (cavities) because food debris and consequent bacteria accumulate in those grooves which, in the first place, are difficult to clean and be kept clean. The bacteria in those grooves begin to release toxins which eat away at the sound tooth structure, thereby causing a cavity to form. In the application of sealants, the dentist, or hygienist, applies a tooth conditioning agent which etches the tooth structure in and around the grooves, thereby providing a surface to which any bonding material, including sealants, will stick. The sealant, which is usually a clear liquid resin, is then painted onto the etched surfaces and subsequently flows into and fills the grooves. The dentist then shines a bright light onto the surface, and the liquid material, through a chemical reaction, then hardens, forming a smooth plastic-like biting surface, thereby sealing out decay. Bear in mind, sealants do have limitations. They cannot be applied to surfaces in between teeth (inter-proximal surfaces) to prevent cavities from forming in those areas. Who would be a good candidate for sealants? Anyone with virgin teeth (i.e. no previous decay or fillings in the teeth in question) and who tends to form cavities easily would be a good candidate for sealants. Usually, people who fit into this group range from young school children who have already gotten their first molars to late adolescence, when cavities become less common and the incidence of gum disease begins to rise. The decision to apply sealants is not based on a blanket approach. Each situation is based on a case by case basis, dependent on the circumstances relevant to that patient at that time. Having sealants placed is painless, both physically and monetarily. In a way, they should be looked upon as insurance policy against decay, much like the snow blower that I bought a number of years ago, but without the cost.
