How To Protect Your Kids From Cavities Using Dental Sealants

When you consider some of the common chronic medical conditions that children suffer, what do you think of? Obesity? Autism? Asthma? ADHD? All of those are common and important medical conditions that parents are rightfully concerned about across the country. But what about cavities? 

Cavities — also called childhood caries or tooth decay — are one of the most common chronic diseases affecting American children. Just how common? According to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five kids between the age of five and 11 have at least one untreated decayed tooth. Kids between the age of five and 19 were twice as likely to have cavities than kids from higher-income households. These facts are more important than you might realize. Cavities cause pain and infections that can interfere with your kids eating, speaking, learning and playing. One October 2016 study found that children with poor oral health also did more poorly at school and missed more classroom time.

There is good news to balance all of that bad news, though. Cavities are entirely preventable. Brushing, flossing and the use of fluoride all reduce the risk of cavities. One more option for protecting your kids from developing cavities is the use of dental sealants in Orlando — especially in their rear molars. 

Your kids’ molars are the largest teeth in their mouth and have lots of grooves and crevices in their biting surfaces. Those grooves and crevices can gradually accumulate plaque that, if not removed, can produce tartar that will fuel tooth decay and produce cavities.

A dentist in Kissimmee can protect those teeth from cavities by applying a liquid sealant to cover and smoothen out the grooves and crevices in the molars. Plaque has a harder time accumulating and clinging to a sealed tooth and that sealant poses a barrier between plaque and the vulnerable enamel layer on the biting surface of your kids’ molars. 

To place sealant, a dentist near you will quickly and painlessly apply a liquid plastic resin using a small brush. It’ll take just a few seconds, after which the dentist will shine a special curing light onto the teeth to form a durable shield to protect your kids’ teeth. 

The American Dental Association and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommend that kids receive dental sealants during two age ranges: between the age of five and seven to protect their baby teeth; and again between the age of 11 and 14 to protect their adult molars. The time and money that parents will spend to protect those molars from tooth decay will be far shorter and less expensive than the time and money required to treat a cavity and progressing tooth decay.

Just how effective are dental sealants? According to the Centers for Disease Control, dental sealants prevented over 80% of cavities in children’s molars two years after the sealant was put in place. That’s significant, considering that 90% of kids’ cavities occur in those molars. Children without sealants have nearly three times more cavities in their permanent molars than kids with sealants in place. Sealants are not a substitute for or alternative to good daily dental hygiene habits, but will provide your kids with another layer of protection from chronic oral disease. 

If you’re a parent interested in protecting your child from one of the most common chronic diseases any child will face, doing so is as simple as obtaining dental sealants near you. To find out about the availability of dental sealants near you and how those sealants could protect your child’s oral health, contact a dentist near you who provides pediatric dental care.