Sealants – An Overview

Cavities are one of the most common dental problems in India. While, the basic solution to this problem is brushing and flossing on a daily basis, still many a times you cannot reach every nook and corner. The molars that we use to chew are of uneven shape and rough and it’s possible that even after cleaning bacteria can still remain back. But, fret not, there is a solution to protect them too and it is known as sealants.

Sealants before and after

Sealants

Sealants are like protection shields for the teeth. There is a thin coating made from plastic or similar dental material and stick to the surface of your back teeth. These sealants are known to be highly effective and have an ability to reduce tooth decay by almost 80% in molars. Outside India and as per the reports of Center of Disease control (CDC) around 43% of the children who do not use sealants are at three times higher risk of getting cavities.

Like you wear raincoats to save yourself from rain, you wear sealants to save your teeth from decay, it is as simple as that. The bacteria responsible for cavities reside in the mouth and with the help of food particles that are left back produce acids that further lead to creation of holes inside the mouth, called cavities. Once the sealants are applied they protect the teeth from decay. The process of application is quite simple and pain free. The dentist cleans your teeth dry and applies an acidic gel on your teeth, in order to roughen up the surface. Once the sealant is applied on this surface it will form a strong bond with the sealant post application. After some time of application of the gel, the dentist rinses the tooth once again and then applies the sealant in the teeth grooves. The dentist makes use of the special blue light to harden the sealant.

Sealants can be used for children above 12 years of age and adults as well. They can be used in areas where decay has just begun so as to avoid further decay. Sealants are transparent in color and hence ensuring the sealant is doing its job is easy for the dentist.

*Sourced from Internet

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The Raincoats for your Teeth – Dental Sealants

Cavities causing bacteria breed in areas around the molars as it’s their favorite place due to inaccessibility advantage. Usually, we brush once or twice a day and even floss.  But, reaching out to areas like molars behind is not easy and many times we tend to give it a miss. The area around the molar is rough and uneven as well. So, the question is how do you protect your molars from the wrath of the mouth bacteria’s?

The answer is by using sealants. You can keep your teeth clean and cavities at bay with the help of sealants, a thin and protective coating that is made from a dental material like plastic, etc. and is adhered to the chewing region at the back of your teeth. Brushing and flossing is obviously a routine that has to be followed but sealants can definitely help in keeping cavities at bay and stop the further decay of teeth if there already is an early stage of decay.

Dental Sealants

Sealants have the ability to reduce the risk factors of tooth decay by as much as 80% in molars. This becomes a significant advantage when dealing with the dental health of children. As per a report released by the Center for Disease control, school going students who do not use sealants are three times more prone to cavities than the school children who are.

Sealants are very much like raincoats. The way a raincoat protects the body from rain, sealants protect your molars from cavity-causing bacteria. Cavity-causing bacteria feed on left-over food particles and can cause holes in teeth called cavities. The role of the sealants is to keep these food particles at bay thus stopping the bacteria as well as the acid from settling down on your teeth.

Application of sealants is quite an easy procedure. You need to fix up an appointment with your dentist for that. The dentist examines your teeth, cleans and dries then before applying the acidic gel to them. The gel is used to roughen up the surface of the tooth so that the bond between the tooth and sealant is strong enough. A few seconds later the dentist rinses the gel off and dries your tooth again. The second step involves the application of sealant in the teeth grooves. The dentist then hardens the sealant with the help of a blue light. Many sealants are transparent in nature so the dentists can check from time to time on the tooth decay issues. Though sealants rarely cause any harm, they do have a negligible amount of BPA in them but not as much that can cause harm. They are long lasting but a periodical check is recommended so that if they come out reapplication can be done.

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*Sourced from the internet