At Mission Bend Family Dentistry, we offer a broad range of dental services to improve and preserve your smile. Preventive treatments are an important part of any oral hygiene program, and can prevent the need for more expensive services. One such preventive is dental sealants.
Dental sealants are a treatment that provides a protective layer for your teeth to prevent cavities. Tooth enamel is what provides that pearly white look of a healthy smile. The enamel itself protects the soft tissue within your teeth and their roots. So why are dental sealants necessary?
Dental Sealants Shield Your Teeth
Regular brushing and flossing are important steps in maintaining a healthy smile. As part of a good oral hygiene program, they help keep bacteria-causing plaque from taking hold of your smile. As essential as these measures are, they cannot reach all areas of the teeth.
Dental sealants work in a similar fashion as a clear coat protective layer on automotive paint. Tooth enamel forms a hard outer shell that protects your teeth, but it isn’t quite as smooth as it appears to the naked eye. The surface of your teeth has depressions, grooves and pores where bacteria can hide and grow.
In addition to the spaces you can’t reach with routine brushing, bacteria from food particles can lodge in the porous surface of your tooth enamel, and are resistant to basic home oral hygiene, even in those places where you can reach them. Therefore, regularly scheduled teeth cleaning by your dentist is recommended.
When your Mission Bend dentist applies a dental sealant to your teeth, the pores of your tooth enamel are sealed, plaque is no longer able to build up in these crevices, thereby preventing the tooth decay that leads to cavities. Back molars responsible for most of your food chewing are especially prone to cavities, while also difficult to reach with routine brushing and flossing.
The chewing surfaces of your teeth most vulnerable to decay will be coated with a thin layer of liquid material that bonds to the teeth, forming a protective shield from food and bacteria. Depending on the shape of your smile, some areas may be more susceptible to food particles getting trapped. Your dentist will be able to identify those areas and treat them with the dental sealant.
How It’s Done
A dental sealant treatment couldn’t be simpler and there is no discomfort involved whatsoever. Your Mission Bend dental care team will begin with a thorough cleaning by your hygienist. After drying your teeth, it may be necessary for your dentist apply an etching solution on the tooth surfaces to assure a good bond.
The dental sealant is painted on just like that clear coat paint job on your car, then cured with a special light to harden the sealant. Now your teeth have a crystal-clear shield against cavities!
Protect your teeth and your children’s new permanent molars with a dental sealant treatment at Mission Bend. Keep those beautiful smiles intact and cavity-free. We accept all major insurance providers and are committed to creating healthy smiles for the entire family. Call and schedule your dental sealant treatment today.