Why Should You Contemplate Getting Dental Sealants for Your Child’s Teeth?
Children are prone to developing cavities on their teeth even after they diligently brush and floss to maintain proper dental hygiene. However, dental sealants provide children with an additional barrier of protection over their molars to prevent cavities from developing altogether. As a parent, wouldn’t you think it is beneficial to keep your child from developing cavities causing sleepless nights, challenges eating foods, and missing school? If you believe this article provides helpful information, please continue reading to get your child dental sealants on their teeth.
Essential Information You Must Have about Dental Sealants for Kids
Dental sealants are a thin coating painted on the molars to protect them against cavities. The dental sealants procedure is neither expensive nor invasive. Dental sealants do not cause pain and cost hardly $ 30-$ 60 per tooth. In addition, you receive a reduction in the prices of dental sealants from some insurance companies and discount plans.
Considering over 50 percent of children have cavities on their teeth, the trend of dental sealants is still not prevalent. Dental sealants remain safe and effective as they have been for over four decades.
Research reveals dental sealants can prevent 80 percent of cavities for the first couple of years after application. The protection continues for another four years against 50 percent of holes, and the sealants remain on the teeth for up to nine years. However, they need a touch-up during regular dental visits because they are prone to chipping and breaking.
Three times more cavities exist in school-age children without dental sealants. As a treatment, dental sealants are conservative, and dentists applying them correctly enjoy excellent success rates.
Should You Place Dental Sealants on Your Child’s Teeth
As mentioned earlier, children report lost school time because of tooth decay due to its interference in their eating, sleeping, and other activities. Besides preventing cavities, dental sealants ensure your child’s teeth remain intact.
When teeth are drilled, filled, restored, or extracted, the natural structure of the tooth is compromised, bringing you a lifetime cost associated with maintaining the restored tooth. There are some disadvantages and problems with dental sealants. They need reapplication if they chip or wear away. During reapplication of sealants, excess material requires drilling down or removal with a scaler.
Some parents have expressed concerns about BPA levels in dental sealants. However, parents must note treating tooth decay involves various dental materials containing more chemicals than BPA. In addition, although different sealant materials are available, information about whether they are more efficient than sealants with BPA is not available. Unfortunately, the primary problem with dental sealants is the lack of awareness among people.
The Dental Sealant Application Procedure
When getting dental sealants for kids, you must ensure you take your child to an experienced pediatric dentist with knowledge about managing children appropriately. It doesn’t mean general dentists are incapable of applying dental sealants. However, they do not have the experience and qualifications to work with children and may handle your child gruffly during the application procedure.
Dental sealants in Edmonton, AB, applied by experienced dentists, tend to last for a lifetime, although they need replacements. Children develop molars and premolars at six, 12, and 18. Getting your child’s molars sealed as soon as they erupt creates a smoother surface on them to prevent the entrapment of food particles and bacteria in them. So long as your child is old enough to tolerate the dental sealants procedure, which requires them to sit with their mouths open and still for a few minutes, you can go ahead with getting dental sealants for their teeth.
Dental sealants seal the pits and fissures of the molars and are best retained in them. Everyone, including adults, can receive the application of dental sealants so long as they don’t have restored teeth.
The dental sealant method is utterly painless besides expecting your child to sit in the dentist’s chair with their mouths open. The Edmonton dentist first cleans your child’s molars and dries them with absorbent material. Next, an etching solution is applied to the molars to roughen the surfaces before cleaning and drying them again. Finally, the sealant material is used on the teeth and hardened with ultraviolet light. At the end of the procedure, your child is free to have the foods and beverages they love without downtime holding them back.
An application of dental sealants prevents frequent visits to dental offices seeking restorations and other treatments for the cavities in your child’s teeth. Therefore getting dental sealants is more beneficial than spending money on unnecessary dental treatments impacting your child’s dental and overall health.