How do sealants prevent tooth decay?
- Sealants can prevent 90% of tooth decay
- Sealants stop decay and can cause it to get smaller in teeth experiencing early decay
- If part of the sealant is lost, the tooth is still less likely to get decay
- If a sealant is lost, the tooth is no more likely to get decay than if never sealed
- Sealants can be replaced
- Sealants have been shown to last as long as 20 years in 87% of teeth sealed.
Life Cycle — Average Cost of Repairing a Molar
Breaking the Cycle of Tooth Decay
The American Dental Association’s Journal of Dental Research has published much research related to sealants. These studies report that sealants not only prevent cavities but also stop cavities.
It states that sealants should be used on teeth with small cavities and teeth that have questionable cavities. It found that only 12.6% of cavities get bigger and deeper and suggests that surgical cutting a tooth (putting a filling) may not be necessary.
The study stated focusing on prevention and stopping cavities (like dental sealants do) is a great way to save teeth and keep from having large fillings that take away more tooth and cost more money later.
This works because teeth with cavities that get sealed have less bacteria and that even if some bacteria is still in the tooth, the food for the bacteria is cut off by the sealant and the bacteria can no longer cause harm.
Whenever a surgical restoration (filling) is placed, it must always be replaced with a bigger filling as it starts to leak and breakdown. By using sealants instead, this cycle is broken. If the sealant is lost, it can be replaced again and again without any loss of tooth structure.
Sealants have been shown to stay on teeth at a rate as high as 87% after twenty years.