Prevention to cavities - Seal your teeth

Prevention is better than cure. This is the most misunderstood statement by people when it comes to healthy lifestyle. In the generation of processed and sugary food being our stress busters, it’s hard to avoid sugar. Cavities, in layman's terms, are the black pits on your teeth where food gets stuck commonly.

Parents worry about their baby's teeth turning black at a young age and fear Root Canal Treatments for their children. Awareness is crucial about the prevention of cavities by opting for Pit and Fissure Sealants.

Teeth anatomically have small pits and fissures, which become the hotspot for food lodgment. Thus, they attract bacterial activity in these areas. What if we could seal them as soon as the permanent teeth started to erupt. The molars or the biting teeth or the last two teeth on each side are the eight teeth that erupt completely by 7-11 years of age. On the shedding of the deciduous teeth, parents can opt for Pit and Fissure sealants or even Fluoride treatment for the permanent teeth.

Let me explain how they work -

Clinically, sealers are flowable and are placed into these anatomical pits and fissures, and then light-cured and sealed. Once this material sets, the area becomes flat. Thus, no tiny grooves for food lodgment and bacterial activity are left behind. These sealers protect the permanent teeth. In the long run, the chances of caries or decay development reduce. Dental Practitioners place these sealers on the newly erupted permanent teeth to prevent decay.

Another way is to opt for Fluoride Applications -

Our teeth are composed of hydroxyapatite crystals. The compressive strength of enamel is 40,000 to 56,000 psi. Although it still gets decayed due to increased bacterial activity and an acidic pH below 5.5. Fluoride, when applied on the tooth surface, bonds to these crystals to form Fluorapatite crystals, which do not break down easily as they have higher resistance to acidic pH as low as 4.5. This procedure should be carried out by a professional dentist.

Another common saying is that Dentistry is not expensive, Neglect is. Tooth decay is a common problem, and the solution to it is pretty simple. Preventive treatments along with good patient compliance and yearly dental visits usually do the trick.

-Dr. Mishika Arora

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