When molars erupt into the mouth, they have tall pillars on each corner, and lots of tiny grooves that run between them. Whenever you eat, food gets caught in those grooves. If you’ve ever eaten potato chips, you know what I’m talking about! Because food gets caught in these grooves, this is one of the most common areas where we see cavities in kids.
By placing a sealant in the grooves before decay has formed, we can prevent those cavities from forming!
A sealant procedure is very simple – you don’t even need to be numb. First, we clean the grooves out using pumice or another tool. Then, we place a gel inside the grooves that treats the tooth so that the sealant material will stick to it. After rinsing off the gel, we dry the tooth and place the sealant material into the grooves. We then shine a special blue light on the sealant material which instantly hardens it.
After the sealant is placed, you can eat food without fear of getting cavities in the grooves of your molars. If you have any questions about sealants, please get in touch with us.
