Once your son or daughter has had all of their baby teeth replaced by their 32 adult teeth, it’s important to maintain them. If the biting surfaces of their molars and premolars have deep pits and fissures in the tooth enamel, they could be hard to clean with twice-daily brushing.
These areas can start to trap residual food particles and plaque, which make them hard to effectively clean with brushing alone. This can result in large cavities forming on the biting surfaces, which require large inlay or onlay fillings to repair. Later on in life, these large fillings could prove problematic.
If your child has deep textures on their molars and premolars, your dentist, Dr. Joseph Szymczak, might recommend protecting the biting surface with dental sealants.
Dental sealants in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are made of durable, plastic resin that your dentist carefully paints onto the biting surfaces of molars and premolars. A special ultraviolet light is used to harden the resin, creating a protective layer. If plaque and food particles get trapped on the biting surfaces, the dental sealants will prevent the bacteria from having direct access to the underlying tooth enamel.
Dental sealants are often applied immediately after your child’s regular dental checkup at MI Roots Family Dental. This way we known the enamel is perfectly clean. The dental sealants are very durable and can help protect the biting surfaces for several years.
If your son or daughter has all of their permanent molars and premolars, you should contact MI Roots Family Dental at 616-453-0002 to ask about having dental sealants applied.