Are Sealants Safe for Kids?

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Are Sealants Safe for Kids?

Parents are often conflicted with the myriad of options recommended by health professionals for their children. In this post, Dr. Patel explains what dental sealants are and how they work.

Sealants are very safe to use on children.

Most cavities start to form in the grooves on the top of your molars. These grooves are where food ground-down gets embedded. The bacteria in the mouth use that food to form acid which makes holes for even more food and bacteria to get trapped in and that is beginning of the decay process.

Sealants flow into these grooves on newly erupted teeth (that are cavity-free since they just erupted into the oral cavity) basically removing the grooves so bacteria and food cannot harbor there. So the sealants serve as a protective barrier and prevention procedure to reduce the cavities that form on top of teeth.

You can still get cavities on other parts of your teeth so proper diet, hygiene and regular check ups are still essential.