What Are Dental Sealants? How Long Do Teeth Sealants Last?

What Are Dental Sealants? How Long Do Teeth Sealants Last?

April 1, 2022

Dental sealants are essential components of preventive dentistry. If you need to get dental sealants, there are various things you must know about dental sealants and how they can enhance your dental health.

Sealants are tiny teeth coverings of resin and plastic materials. Dentists usually apply them to the grooves and surfaces of the back teeth (molars) to protect the teeth from decay or infection. The molar is a common location for cavities and decay, which informs dentists’ preferences.

Since they are of composite resin materials, they can blend in with your teeth’ color, giving you a natural dental appearance.

How Do Dental Sealants Work?

Although teeth sealants can last for ten years with good maintenance, they are most effective during their first two years. In other words, they require optimum care after two years to remain effective during their life span.

Sealants get worn out over time due to the constant force caused by chewing and biting. Bad dental habits can also reduce the effectiveness of your sealants, and in worse cases, the sealants can get damaged. If you want your sealants to stay vital for a long time, you should maintain them well. Routine dental examinations are one essential aspect of the maintenance you are to give your sealants. Your dentist can examine your dental sealants and confirm if they are still effective or if you need to get a new one placed.

At What Age Are Dental Sealants Needed?

Adults and children can get teeth sealants. Nevertheless, it is best to get teeth sealants for children early. That ensures that they do not develop cavities that might damage their teeth and negatively alter their dental structure in the future. It is better to protect those sets of baby teeth as they erupt.

However, you can get sealants later in life too. If you want to start your dental health care journey and prevent further or new tooth decay, you can visit a dentist near you for dental sealants for adults. It is never too late to start your preventive dental care.

Dental Sealant Procedure

After contacting your dentist near you to book your dental appointment, they will provide you with guidelines on preparing for your sealant procedure. Dental sealant is a less invasive, painless, and simple procedure, so it doesn’t require many preparations.

Next, your dentist would examine your teeth to check for cavities. Although it is better to get rid of cavities before applying sealants, if you are not ready to get rid of the cavities, you can get sealants to prevent the cavities from getting worse, especially if they are early cavities.

The dentist would then proceed with the treatment by getting your teeth dried with a rubber sheet. After that, an acidic gel would be placed on your teeth’ surface to roughen them and serve as a strong attachment between your teeth and the sealants.

Next, the acidic gel would be rinsed off, and then the dentist would get your tooth dried up again. Now, the sealant, which comes in a liquid form, will go on your back teeth holes, and then your dentist will use an ultra-violet light to harden and smoothen the sealants on your teeth.

How Does It Help your Teeth?

There are a lot of benefits that you can get from your dental sealants.

  • Sealants save you from spending more money: If your teeth aren’t protected, they can get infected and cause damage later. These damages might require more money than the amount you would spend on getting a dental sealant.
  • Sealants save you time: The amount of time you spend getting dental appointments and waiting for dental treatments for cavities will reduce with sealants.
  • Sealants boost your confidence: Knowing that you have a protective dental material on your teeth makes you feel safe. You would also be excited and happy that your teeth aren’t vulnerable like they used to be before you applied sealants.
  • Sealants do not cause you pain or discomfort. They are easy to fix and rarely cause any after-effects.

Contact Knoxville Dental Associates for your dental sealant treatments. You can also get after-care tips for your dental sealants from us.

Click to listen highlighted text!