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What are Dental Sealants?

What are Dental Sealants?

Find out if this simple preventive measure could keep your child free from cavities.sealants

Our North Syracuse, NY, family dentist Dr. Inderpreet Atwal doesn’t like diagnosing your little one with cavities any more than your child likes hearing the words, “You have a cavity.” Besides making sure they are maintaining a good oral care routine each and every day you may also want to think about whether your child could benefit from dental sealants.

If you ever took a moment to observe the back of your teeth then you know just how pitted and grooved the chewing surfaces are. Molars can certainly be a pain to keep clean. So it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to hear that a lot of cavities occur on back teeth. Of course, poor brushing habits coupled with a diet high in processed or sugary foods can also leave your child prone to decay. Luckily, dental sealants can protect these surfaces of your children's back teeth to prevent cavities from forming.

Dental sealants are made from tooth-colored plastic, which are applied to a tooth to seal away bacteria and to prevent the bacteria from growing and multiplying within the grooves of the tooth.

According to the CDC, dental sealants can actually protect molars from 80 percent of cavities for up to 2 years and can even provide 50 percent protection against cavities for up to 4 years, with the proper oral care. Plus, getting a dental sealant is easy, simple and completely painless.

A dental sealant can be placed at your child’s next routine dental visit. After our North Syracuse, NY, dentist has cleaned your child’s teeth the next step will be to place an etching solution over the chewing surfaces of the molars. Then the gel will be removed and the tooth will be cleaned and dried.

The purpose of the etching solution is to help the dental sealant better stick to the tooth’s surface when it’s applied. Finally, the sealant is painted on and a dental light is directed over the tooth to harden the sealant into place.

Want to talk to us about whether your child should get dental sealants? Then don’t hesitate to call Atwal Dental Care in North Syracuse, NY, today. We will sit down one-on-one with you to determine if this is the best approach for your little one’s smile.