February is National Children’s Dental Month, and our team at Hillsdale Dental Care is here to ensure your child’s oral health is well cared for. From the moment your child starts teething, proper dental hygiene is key to avoiding a range of common oral problems later in life.
One of the best ways to protect your child’s teeth and support their oral health is through cavity prevention — and dental sealants are one of the simplest ways to do just that.
Read on as pediatric dentistry specialists Dr. Roge Jacob and Dr. Magdalena Azzarelli explain how dental sealants work to protect your child’s teeth, and what makes this simple preventive treatment so beneficial.
Cavities (tooth decay) are the most common dental problem for kids, a problem that affects up to 90% of school-aged kids in the United States at any given time.
Cavities are holes that develop in tooth enamel made by bacteria that combines with sugars and plaque. Proper brushing and flossing removes plaque, but when this sticky film sticks around (i.e., isn’t removed completely during brushing), it can trap corrosive, sugar-eating bacteria against tooth enamel — allowing it to damage the tooth surface and cause decay.
A dental sealant is a thin coating that’s placed on the chew surfaces of your child’s back teeth (molars) to protect them from cavity-causing bacteria. These invisible adhesive “covers” can be made from different materials, including plant-based or synthetic resins.
This solution for protecting teeth is optimal for kids with permanent molars or premolars to protect them during the years they’re most likely to develop cavities and tooth decay — or between six and 14 years of age.
Millions of children have dental sealants, making it one of the most common preventive dental treatments on offer.
Some of the main advantages of getting dental sealants for your children are:
Since preventing cavities is one of the primary concerns for a child’s dental health, this is an essential tool to help reduce their chances of developing them by filling areas where cavities most often develop — in the deep grooves of molar chew surfaces.
This isn’t an invasive procedure that requires needles or drilling; the sealant is simply applied right to the chew surface, much like a tiny sticker, cured with a special light for a few seconds, and the process is complete.
Saliva is essential for keeping your child’s mouth moist and breaking down food, but luckily, it won’t break down their sealants. Made of materials that are resistant to saliva, dental sealants last for years before they need to be replaced.
With no injections or other unpleasant things kids often dread about the dentist, the dental sealant process doesn’t hurt, making it easier for them — and you — to endure.
Dental sealants and completely safe, and don’t come with any downtime or side effects.
Sealants can help prevent cavities and keep your child’s teeth healthy. To learn more, call 408-404-8385 and schedule a visit with our pediatric dentists at Hillsdale Dental Care in San Jose, California, today.
