As a parent, making sure your kid has healthy, strong teeth is a high daily priority. Teaching your kid the right way to brush and minimising sugary foods are essential preventative dental care measures to provide them a lifetime of confident, pain-free smiles. But even the most careful brushers sometimes forget to get into the deep, tiny grooves on the rear chewing teeth, which are great breeding grounds for food debris, germs and disease. Fortunately, contemporary paediatric dentistry has a simple and very efficient protection against tooth decay – dental sealants for youngsters. This mild, non-invasive preventative treatment serves as a protective barrier to seal deep cracks before cavities have a chance to develop. Getting top-notch, child-friendly dental treatment is accessible and stress-free for families living around the capital, including expanding residential areas such as Baniyas, Shamkha and Shakhbout City. Royal Medical Center One Day Surgery in Shakhbout City provides full paediatric dentistry treatments for your kid with competent and sensitive care in a comfortable setting.
What Is a Dental Sealant for Children?
Knowing the fundamentals helps to relieve any natural doubts you may have about this common preventative therapy.
What Are Dental Sealants?
A dental sealant is a thin, invisible or tooth-colored protective covering placed directly to the chewing surfaces of the back teeth (premolars and permanent molars). The liquid substance is able to seep deep into the small pits, crevices and natural grooves of the enamel, and is then cemented using a specific curing light.
The Need for Extra Protection of Back Molars
The chewing surfaces of the back molars have tiny, deep cracks, often narrower than a single bristle of a toothbrush. The little pits are too tiny for the bristles of a toothbrush to reach down inside, so they provide the perfect place for food particles and plaque bacteria to lodge and create cavities. A sealant fills in these deep grooves to create a slick, protective coating that washes away easily with typical everyday cleaning.
What are the major Advantages of Kids’ Dental Sealants?
The choice of sealants gives essential long-term protection to your child’s developing smile:
- Unmatched Cavity Protection: Paediatric dentists prescribe sealants to reduce the risk of decay in the back molars by around 80 per cent, offering unbeatable protection during the cavity-prone years of childhood.
- Painless and Non-Invasive: Applying a sealant is a painless, non-invasive technique that does not entail drilling, needles and loss of natural tooth structure. The entire procedure is quick, easy and a lot of fun.
- Durable Protection: Quality sealants can withstand the daily grind of chewing and preserve teeth for years to come, preserving enamel throughout crucial development stages.
- Affordable Prevention: A sealant is easier and less costly to prevent a cavity than it is to provide fillings, root canals or crowns for a tooth later.
Are Dental Sealants Safe For Kids?
Parents always have safety in mind with any medical or dental treatment. Are dental sealants safe for children? Yes, certainly. The use of dental sealants has been well studied, clinically evaluated and successfully used in paediatric dentistry globally for decades. They are supported by the main worldwide dental societies. The biocompatible resin ingredients are non-toxic, mild on gums and harden quickly into a solid, inert barrier. The little amount of BPA in certain dental resins is a microscopic fraction of what children get from food packaging or the world at large, thus the treatment is quite safe and helpful.
The Step by Step Dental Sealant Procedure for Kids
Do you want to know what occurs during a dental sealant appointment for kids, here’s how you can get your child ready so they are entirely calm at their visit:
- Thorough Cleaning: The dental hygienist or paediatric dentist will clean the surface of the molar extensively to eliminate any signs of plaque and food debris.
- Drying and Isolation: Wash the teeth with water, dry completely and isolate with absorbent cotton rolls to prevent saliva from contacting the enamel.
- Etching the Surface: A safe, light etching gel is put to the chewing surface for a few seconds. This leaves a somewhat tiny rough roughness which allows the sealant to attach firmly to the tooth.
- Rinsing & Drying: The etching gel is washed off thoroughly and the tooth is dried again.The dentist applies the liquid resin straight into the grooves of the tooth, making sure that every deep depression is filled.
- Light Curing: A unique blue curing light is shone over the tooth for around 20 to 30 seconds, instantaneously hardening the coating into a resilient, solid shield.
The whole treatment takes just a few minutes per tooth and your kid may eat, drink and play right after they leave the dentist chair.
Caring for Kids’ Dental Sealants: How to Keep Your Child’s Teeth Safe in the Long Run
Proper dental sealant maintenance for kids is nothing more than easy, continuous hygiene behaviours to maintain that protective layer in place:
- Brush and Floss Regularly: Sealants work to preserve the chewing surfaces of teeth, but brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and daily flossing are still important to protect the sides and spaces between teeth.
- Avoid Hard or Sticky Foods: Sealants are durable but chewing on ice, hard candies or very sticky candy may sometimes chip or tear the resin covering off over time.
- Follow Up with Routine Dental Checkups: During routine 6-month dental visits, your dentist will examine the sealants to make sure they are still intact, and they will reapply the resin if slight wear develops.
What is the Cost of Dental Sealants for Children?
Calculating the entire cost of dental sealants for youngsters is simply the opposite of restorative dental treatment. The cost of putting a sealant is quite modest per tooth – a fraction of the cost of inserting a typical dental filling. Moreover, many private health and dental insurance policies available in Abu Dhabi, recognise the importance of preventative sealants in avoiding expensive future procedures and fully or partly cover them for children under a specific age. During your appointment, our administrative staff will help you check your own insurance coverage so you know exactly what you will be paying for.
FAQs
Q: When should sealants be applied?
A: When the permanent teeth initially emerge through the gums. First permanent molars usually emerge at age 6 years and second at age 12 years. Sealants are placed immediately and protect the enamel from deterioration before it begins.
Q: Is it possible to get sealants on my primary teeth?
A: It is possible under some circumstances. For instance, the dentist will advise the placement of sealants in cases where a child has very deep fissures in the baby molars and is prone to cavities in early childhood.
Q: For how long do the sealants last?
A: The sealants will last 3-9 years depending on good dental hygiene. In case the sealants become worn out, they can be renewed by the dentist in his routine dental visits.
Q: Is there going to be any pain involved in the procedure?
A: There is no pain at all associated with this procedure. There is no drilling, no injections, no physical pain. The whole appointment is quick and quite amusing for kids.
Q: Can you acquire a cavity behind a sealant?
A: While sealants greatly lower the risk of decay on the chewing surface, cavities may still occur on the unsealed sides or between teeth if good brushing and flossing practices are not maintained.
Conclusion
Avoiding cavities for your child’s smile doesn’t need to be a daily battle. Dental sealants for youngsters are undetectable, painless and very efficient in preventing decay during the years when cavities are most likely to develop. Together with frequent brushing, a good diet and regular dental checkups, sealants provide your kid the greatest opportunity for a lifetime of healthy, strong teeth.
Book a dental sealant appointment for kids at Royal Medical Center One Day Surgery in Shakhbout City, Abu Dhabi when you are ready to protect your child’s teeth. We are a caring and knowledgeable dental team devoted to offering compassionate preventative dentistry to families in the Baniyas, Shamkha and neighbouring districts. Call us now to book your child’s consultation!
