What are Fissure Sealants?
Fissure sealants are a great way to help prevent cavities from forming in the deep grooves of your teeth. Specifically molars and premolars, as they more commonly have these deeper grooves. Usually, we do these on children’s teeth as they are most likely to get cavities in these locations, but they can be done at any age.
A fissure sealant is a resin-based coating painted into the grooves of the teeth that helps prevent bacteria from getting in the grooves and helps prevent cavities. They are simple, easy to do and do not hurt so kids don’t mind having them done either!
Let’s quickly run through the process of a fissure sealant being placed:
1 – The deep groove susceptible to a cavity is identified.
2 – The groove is cleaned and the tooth enamel is prepared for the fissure sealant to be placed.
3 – The tooth is dried and the fissure sealant is applied to the prepared enamel surface. Don’t worry, it goes on pink but cures into a white material.
4 – The fissure sealant material is hardened with a blue curing light.
5 – The tooth’s deep grooves have now been fissure sealed to protect them from the bacteria that cause decay.
Filling these deep grooves in with fissure sealants helps prevent bacteria from getting into these grooves and also makes it easier to clean the tooth with your toothbrush. Fissure sealants are a great preventative measure you can take for your teeth or your children’s teeth.
Talk to us today to see if fissure sealants would work for you.