Things You Need To Know About Dental Sealants

When it comes to maintaining better dental health and oral hygiene, you have to make sure that you get proper homecare as well as preventative dental treatment. Brushing and flossing are surely highly recommended but you may not be able to avoid dental problems even if you are doing everything you can at home. In this situation, you can go for a bit extra care by your dentist.

One of the solutions to consider in this regard is the application of dental sealants.

What is dental sealant?

Dental sealant is a plastic or composite material which is placed in the pits and grooves of the chewing surfaces of back teeth, also known as molars. The problem with these pits and grooves is that these are so narrow that they cannot be cleaned with the help of normal brushing. Toothbrush’s bristles cannot usually enter into these pits and grooves. As a result, there is always the risk of oral bacteria to get settled in those grooves and cause tooth to be decayed. Dental sealant effectively seals the area.

People who can have sealants

Both children and adults can get their teeth sealed. Since it is the preventative treatment, you don’t necessarily need to have any infection in order to get the sealant. If your teeth are healthy but they have grooves, you cannot rule out the possibility of tooth decay. Hence, you can go for the application of dental sealant.

Placing of sealants

There is procedure according to which the sealants are placed on the chewing surfaces of teeth.

• It starts with the cleaning of the tooth. This cleaning may also involve enamoplasty which is the process of stain removal. This process also helps in determining if there is an underlying decay beneath the stain.
• After the tooth is cleaned, a solution is applied on the place where sealant is to be applied. This solution etches the surface up to an extent in order to make the surface the holding ground for sealant solution.
• Now, dry surface is created around the tooth to be sealed in order to ensure that no moisture remains there on the surface to be sealed. The reason is that the tooth will not remain sealed the surface is not dried prior to sealing.
• Prime and bond are painted on the surface of the tooth to make the surface capable of holding sealant.
• Now, the sealant material is painted on the tooth. The tooth is then flossed to make sure that no remains of sealant material stay in between the teeth. The curing light is then used to harden the sealant.