I took my Gran daughter to the Dentist and he mentioned a sealer for her teeth. What is this a ploy or good.?

Answer 1

It's too protect her teeth until she's older. It will help keep cavities away, my daughter had it done, too and it worked well.

Answer 2

this is very good. Younger teeth have deeper grooves because they haven't had the years of wear and grinding smooth like ours, so foods like cookies etc get trapped in these grooves and are harder to remove allowing the food to weaken the enamel and eat through causing a cavity. Plus, kids aren't the greatest at brushing their teeth, right? The sealant is put on the biting surface called the occlusal surface. This fills the groovs and blocks bacteria from getting in. At around $30 a tooth it is a great investment versus having to spen over $100 per tooth to get a filling. No it is not a ploy, it is a Great thing to do. I'd have the sealants put on the same day the doc mentions if you can. It can be the best thing to do. We had a patient who didn't bring her daughter in for a year after telling her to get sealants on her daughter's teeth and in that year got cavities and tried blaming us for the neglect. Because I kept record of everything, the mother realised her mistake.

Answer 3

Sealants are a good thing if the grooves of the tooth are deep and if your granduagher is otherwise not likely to get cavities. By this I mean, if she is a sugar-holic and a brush-refusnik, it won't matter if she has the sealants, because she is going to get cavities anyway. If she's pretty good about diet and hygiene, then sealants are usually beneficial. They cost a fraction of the cost of a filling, so it's not likeit's a get-rich-quick scheme.

I would NOT recommend getting seals placed on baby teeth and - in fact - I'd raise an eyebrow and reconsider a few things if the dentist tells you that this is a good idea. They just don't stick as well on baby teeth, so nobody does them there. By the time the child is old enough to cooperate with treatment, the baby teeth ahve already either decayed or stood the test of time.

Answer 4

Sealers help prevent cavities by literally sealing the enamel so that cavity-causing bacteria cannot get into the teeth. But it does wear off over time. The child will still need to continue with good oral hygiene, however. It is simply a preventative.

Answer 5

Hi,
Pit and Fissure sealants are an excellent way of protecting your granddaughters teeth. It is a clear or opaque fluid that is placed over the grooves in the new permanent molar teeth (and set hard)to "smooth" them out and help make brushing easier. Make sure that the dentist takes xrays of the teeth first to make sure there are no small cavities already.
Pit and Fissure sealants do not replace regular toothbrushing.
Good on you for caring about your granddaughters teeth!!

Answer 6

You stupid a$$hole.......

Why the hell would your dentist try to peddle some sort of "ploy" on your "Gran daughter"?

If your granddaughter's pediatrician recommended a throat culture, would you come to this message board and ask the same question? You must view dentists like used car salesmen rather than doctors. I'd have kicked your *** out of my office if you asked me that kind of a question.

Placing sealants is a very routine procedure, and when done properly, is a valuable way of helping to prevent cavities.

Answer 7

Sealants are a material placed on children's teeth to seal the small grooves and keep bacteria and sweets and food from gathering up there and causing decay.The most common areas where people get cavities are on the chewing surfaces and in between teeth. It helps kids not get cavities on the chewing surfaces of their teeth, although they still need to brush really well so they dont get cavities building up in between their teeth or at the gum lines, because sealants dont prevent decay in those areas.The decay in between teeth can be avoided by flossing regularly. Sealants help cover those critical spots on teeth during the years when children young and dont do as good a job at brushing and keeping their teeth clean. Its definitely worth getting and is not a way to scam you out of your money.

Answer 8

I wish these sealers had been available when I was younger! I hate being a metal mouth! They fit over the back molars and prevent cavities. They are relativly inexpensive when you consider the costs of fillings and crowns. My daughter still had cavities, but not nearly as many as she would have if we had not had the sealers on her teeth.

Answer 9

I believe it is a great thing! Here is tooth sealing as I understand it. Cavities are usually found in places where the teeth are not smooth, hence food particals "stick" to them and eventually cause cavities. Little children are not the best at brushing their teeth, so the likelyhood of cavities is much greater. Sealing the teeth "smooths" all the surfaces so that food cannot stick as easily. It also gives decay another layer to get through to. We have had all of our children's teeth sealed and to date none of them have had cavities. We have a 15 yr old, an 11 yr old and an 18 month old...who will have her teeth sealed later obviously.

Hope this helps you out!

Answer 10

Sealers are great!
If I would have had them as a kid I wouldn't have a mouth full of metal fillings now.

The sealants help prevent cavities by filling in the deep valley like crevaces some people have in their teeth. This prevents food particles from getting trapped and causing cavities.

It is preventive care, do it to save the pain and cost of fillings later.

Answer 11

See our back molar teeth have a lots of valleys and deep depressions in them...children do not have the manual dexterity to effectively remove all of the plaque of their teeth, so what dental professionals have come up with is to seal these deep surfaces, in order to prevent the food and plaque from building up and creating cavities in our young ones teeth (which if your not sure the importance of "baby teeth" please contact me, I would love to tell you.) They can be very effective, and well worth the cost of the sealants, they can prevent cavites (when proper brushing and flossing are included) for some until they are in their 20's. Girls in my classes have never had a cavity because their teeth were sealed, and what you would expect out of dental hygiene student, for brushing habits. If the dentist recommended that your grand-daughter receive the sealants, it is for good reason, he is trying to protect her from the pain and discomfort of cavities, and if you trust his professional opinion, go for it!

Good Luck