The Advantages of Dental Sealants for Children's Oral Health

Preventive dental care is essential for patients of all ages, but it is especially important for children who are growing, developing, and building a foundation of oral health that will last a lifetime. Preventive dental treatments such as dental cleanings, fluoride applications, and dental sealants are designed to help your children achieve and maintain optimal oral health and good general health for life.  

What Is a Dental Sealant?

Also referred to as a molar sealant, a dental sealant is a preventive dental treatment that uses tooth-colored composite resin as a protective sealant for teeth. A dental sealant consists of a thin layer of composite resin that is painted over the chewing surface of a tooth (usually a molar). The sealant is then cured with a special ultraviolet light and then adjusted to achieve a comfortable bite.  

By filling in and smoothing out crevices and tooth fissures, dental sealants protect the molars from tooth decay and excessive wear and tear while making them easier to maintain with daily brushing and flossing.  

6 Benefits of Dental Sealants for Children's Oral Health

1. Prevent Wear and Tear

Molars tend to receive the greatest chewing pressure, causing daily wear and tear to the tooth enamel. Dental sealants cover and seal the chewing surfaces of your child's molars, protecting the tooth enamel from becoming excessively worn.  

2. Prevent Cavities

Additionally, the chewing surfaces of molars are marked with deep crevices, fissures, nooks, and crannies where food debris, plaque, and bacteria can become lodged, resulting in rapid tooth decay that leads to dental caries (cavities). Dental sealants fill in these crevices, smoothing out the surfaces of your child's molars. This prevents bacteria from affecting the chewing surfaces of molars, helping to prevent tooth decay in these areas.  

3. Ease Oral Hygiene

The smoother chewing surfaces created with dental sealants prevent food and plaque from sticking to the teeth, and a smoother surface is much easier to keep thoroughly clean with daily brushing and flossing.  

4. Safe, Simple, Painless, and Non-Invasive

The process of getting dental sealants is safe, simple, non-invasive, and does not require the use of anesthetic. This minimizes stress and negative experiences at the dental office for young patients. After a routine teeth cleaning, a dentist or dental hygienist uses a small paint-brush-like applicator to apply a thin layer of tooth-colored composite resin onto the surfaces of the molars. We then shine a small, ultraviolet light onto the resin to cure and harden it. Once cured, we ask your child to bite down and then sand the dental sealant until your child's bite feels normal and comfortable. The whole process only takes a few minutes per tooth.

5. Long-Lasting Protection

Depending on the level of wear and tear they receive each day, dental sealants typically last about five to ten years. So, a single application can protect your child's molars for up to a decade or longer. When a dental sealant eventually wears out, we can simply repair or replace the sealant by applying a new layer of tooth-colored resin.  

6. Cost Effective

Dental sealants cost much less than treatment for tooth decay, cavities, and significant tooth damage, and sealants are designed to prevent the need for these kinds of treatments on the molars. Dental sealants reduce the number of dental visits needed and eliminate the need for more extensive and costly treatments by preventing oral health problems from developing.  

Additionally, the strength and durability of dental sealants mean they are an investment that only needs to be made about once per decade to maintain their preventive benefits.  

Protect Your Teeth With Dental Sealants for Children and Adults at Grove City Smiles

Preventive dentistry is the cornerstone of optimal oral health and general wellness too. Plus, preventive dentistry saves you time, money, and the stress of experiencing painful oral health problems.

At Grove City Smiles, we place a strong emphasis on preventive dentistry for children and adults, alike, and we're proud to offer comprehensive preventive care services and treatments including prophylaxis cleanings, professional fluoride applications, and dental sealants. To learn more about the benefits of dental sealants or to request an appointment for you or your child, we welcome you to contact Grove City Smiles today.  

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