Sealants
Teeth grow together from tooth buds before they break through the gums. Ideally, the tooth enamel from adjacent tooth buds fuse together to form a complete tooth. Often this fusion of the enamel is incomplete, leaving a gap in the defensive enamel layer.
Bacteria are able to grow in these deep grooves, which makes the softer, underlying tooth structure vulnerable to decay. In order to prevent decay, we flow a composite material, a sealant, into the deep grooves that becomes hard when exposed to a fiber-optic light. These sealants also have time-released fluoride that further increases the tooth’s resistance to decay, in addition to sealing out bacteria.
We place sealants in teeth that are vulnerable to decay, in both children and adults. Since the advent of sealants and fluoride, we see many patients that have no need for restorative dental care. Once a tooth is decayed and needs a filling, the tooth has been compromised. Modern dental porcelain filling materials approximate the properties of tooth structure, but they do eventually wear out and have to be replaced. Each time a filling is replaced due to wear or recurrent decay, more tooth structure is lost and the fillings get closer to the nerve. Due to grinding or clenching, a tooth may sometimes fracture and require a crown. Occasionally, the nerve inside the tooth may be so traumatized that it dies and/or becomes infected, requiring a root canal. If we stop this entire process before it starts by placing a sealant, we believe we are doing our patients a good service.