Fissure Sealants

Dental sealant is also called fissure sealant. The fissure is the groove/valley in the top your side and back teeth when you look down on them and on the molars resembles a hot cross bun. A huge survey of dental decay patterns has found that 90% of decay in permanent teeth starts in this fissure. This is due to the ability of food to stick in and sink into the fissures which are hard to clean compared to the outside of your teeth for example.

A fissure sealant is basically liquid white filling material which is stuck onto the fissure to block it off and stop food getting stuck. Occasionally people will have pits on the palate side of their front teeth which should be sealed but in general fissure sealants are for premolars, (side) and especially molars/back teeth. The first permanent molars come into the mouth at approximately six years of age without any baby tooth falling out. They are situated away at the back of the mouth in a hard to reach area and can do with all the protection they can get. They have to last a lifetime after all! Fissure seals are painless and do NOT involve any drilling or numbing. Usually, the tooth is brushed clean, a blue gel placed, the gel washed off, the sealant applied and a light shone on it to set. The age varies as to when a child will let us do a fissure seal as it takes a minute or so with your mouth open. As a general rule certainly most eight-year-olds are fine with some kids managing younger

Fissure sealants should be applied to premolars and molars. These teeth are the ones that have those hollows and grooves that can be at the highest risk of decay. Your dentist will perform an examination of each of the teeth in order to determine which teeth will be best served from being sealed.

If the molars have deep fissures then they will benefit from the sealing process. Some teeth naturally have grooves that are deeper than other teeth, which means that some teeth will benefit more from the process. Some molars may not even need to be sealed.

Some front teeth have a small pit on the palate side. In front teeth, this is a high-risk area to get decay as this pit is naturally very close to the nerve and is a smart spot to seal.

Fissure sealants are applied to the molars once the permanent teeth start to erupt in the mouth. For most children, this occurs between six and seven years of age. Teeth can be sealed as they continue to erupt, which could be until children are between eleven and fourteen.

Teeth are first thoroughly examined to identify which teeth will benefit from the sealant. The teeth are then cleaned well to ensure that no food or other debris is inadvertently trapped inside of the fissures once they are sealed off. A specialised cleaning solution will be applied to each tooth and then washed off.

The fissure sealant liquid will be applied to each tooth carefully. A specialised UV light will be used to help the solution to set thoroughly.

Patients will feel no discomfort or pain during the procedure. There will be no noticeable difference felt on the teeth once they have been sealed. No local anaesthetic or injection is used.

The fissure sealant should last for several years. At each routine checkup, the dentist will check on each sealed tooth, to make sure that the seal on each tooth is still intact. Because molars play such a big role in the way that we eat, they can sustain a bit of wear and tear. If this does happen, the dentist can add additional sealant or replace it entirely to ensure continued protection against decay.