Dental sealants for kids?

Have You Thought About Getting Sealants for Your Kids?
Sweets, soda and sticky foods are common in the diets of many young children today. These foods are known to contribute to the development of dental cavities, even in children who are just beginning school. Dental sealants applied to the permanent teeth are an important tool that dentists have to help kids maintain healthy teeth for a lifetime. Unfortunately, fewer than half of dentists follow the American Dental Association’s (ADA) recommendations for the application of sealants and even fewer kids are getting this preventive care.

How Sealants Work
Sealants for teeth begin as a liquid resin. The dentist Toledo carefully places drops of the resin onto the biting surfaces of the child’s teeth, paying particular attention to the permanent molars. The sealant is set into place by shining a special UV lamp into the mouth. Application of the sealant only takes a few minutes and can be done after a routine cleaning.

What Sealants Do
The solidified sealant fills in microscopic spaces where food particles and plaque get trapped. Kids who have had even just one application of sealant on their teeth have half as many cavities as kids who have never had their teeth sealed. The sealants are not a free pass to eat junk or skip on good oral hygiene. They are extra protection against dental decay.

Selecting a Dentist
A highly skilled and experienced family dentist Toledo uses the proper technique for sealant application. Using the correct procedure for putting the sealant on a child’s teeth ensures that the sealant will protect the teeth against decay. While not all children need sealants, only an experienced dentist can make that determination.

The Benefits of Sealants
Properly applied sealants may help protect a child’s permanent teeth from cavities for ten years or even longer, according to research done by the ADA. Because 90 percent of the cavities that dentists see are on the biting surface of the molars, the early application of sealants can preserve the integrity of the teeth and prevent the child from needing extensive dental restorations later in life.

The oral hygienists and dentists at this family dentist Toledo, OH can help parents learn about the benefits of sealants. To learn more about dental sealants for kids, contact Finley Dental. The dentist Toledo will gladly make the time to talk with parents who want to know if sealants would improve their child’s oral health.

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