Parents wondering whether or not dental sealants make a difference when it comes to protecting their children from tooth decay will be happy to know they reduce tooth damage, a new report shows. Federal health officials are encouraging more parents, health care providers and schools to help make sure kids get them.
Sealants prevent 80 percent of cavities in school-aged children, according to a new CDC Vital Signs Report. Dental sealants are protective coatings painted on teeth that help keep bacteria out of the nooks and crannies where tooth wear it might happen.
The findings also show that many children are missing. About 60 percent of 6- to 11-year-olds don’t get dental sealants, and kids who don’t have cavities nearly three times as often.
At a press conference today, CDC officials said more health care providers, school administrators and parents need to know the benefits of the procedure.
Dental sealants they are generally painted on a child’s back teeth, where cavities are most likely to develop, said Dr. Mary Hayes, a pediatric dentist in Chicago and spokeswoman for the American Dental Association.
“A sealant is a resin material that penetrates the area where the grooves of the teeth are. There’s a lot of bacteria in the mouth and they’ll get into those grooves and produce acid and you’ll get tooth damage. The sealant prevents bacteria from entering these areas. This resin material reduces or prevents a point where decay would normally form,” Hayes said.
He recommends using sealants around age 6 and then again around 12 when the adult molars come in. Treatment generally lasts from four to eight years. Temperature and how a child chews, as well as what they eat, can affect the lifespan of a sealant.
“Nothing we put in our mouths is perfect – hot chocolate and coffee and ice. And our bite pressure is quite intense. You can get a micro-crack in a tooth, much less a sealant,” Hayes said.
Some parents are wary of sealants, however, because they contain BPAor bisphenol A. BPA is an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics and resins used in many types of products, such as Food packaging. It’s been around since the 1960s. Some research shows that BPA can seep into food or drinks from containers made with the material, and exposure to the chemical has been linked to potential health concerns in the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses , infants and children, according to Mayo Clinic experts. . Other research suggests a possible link between BPA and elevated blood pressure. But the Food and Drug Administration says it’s safe at very low levels.
Hayes said dental sealants have very small amounts of BPA compared to other common exposures. BPA levels in sealants were once higher.
“We’re using materials now where there’s probably some BPA in them, but it’s tiny and has been measured at 0.001 percent. For the average 6-year-old child, 96 percent of their exposure to BPA comes from food and drink, and the rest comes from dust and air and paper receipts,” he said, among other sources.
Other reasons some parents skip getting sealants for their children include cost or lack thereof INSURANCEor the hassle and time it takes to visit a dentist, Hayes said.
But the new report suggests it was time and money well spent, he said.
