Sealants and Protecting your Child from Cavities
As a parent, hearing that your child has a cavity is almost worse than hearing that you have a cavity. You wonder if the cavity is your fault — did you fail to teach your child proper oral hygiene? Should you have spent more time teaching him how to brush? Well, luckily, there are several ways, in addition to diligent oral hygiene, to protect your children’s teeth from decay.
When your children are young, the newly erupted enamel of their teeth is more permeable and therefore more susceptible to tooth decay. As the enamel matures, it becomes stronger and more resistant to decay. Until this point, it is very important to protect the surfaces of your child’s newly erupting teeth.
One way to protect the enamel is with fluoride, which makes the surface of enamel harder and less vulnerable to acid attack and decay. However, because of the deep pits and fissures in the teeth, they are still at high risk for decay and may need further protection. In these cases, we might recommend sealants, protective coatings placed in the pits and fissures of teeth to prevent decay. In doing so, these invisible coatings actually “seal” them from attack. The procedure is usually completely painless, and only occasionally, a very small amount of tooth enamel is removed. Though some children feel a quick tinge of cold during the procedure, this mild feeling is not enough to demand the use of numbing injections.
Generally, we will use sealants when we examine your child and find that decay is starting or likely to start in a tooth. However, in cases where children have a high risk of cavities, we may seal all permanent molar teeth and many baby molar teeth soon after eruption.
If you would like more information about sealants, please contact Dr. Cindy Sumarauw at 801-281-3500 to schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Sealants for Children.”
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