Comments on: Should I Get a Dental Sealant to Prevent Cavities (and Save Money)?

By: MAK

MAK — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:57:08 +0000

My dentist put sealants on my kids, and told them they could never chew gum ever. I’m all for prevention of cavities, but telling a child they can never chew gum or have any sticky foods ever again seems a bit extreme. There’s not much of a childhood if you can’t a some fun occasionally. He said this was to prevent the sealants from coming off. Has anyone had their dentist tell them this too? And has anyone had to replace their sealants because of eating sticky foods?

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:55:40 +0000

I am beginning to look at sealants as an older adult.
In my 30s, 40, I had very few cavities. After hitting 50 I averaged two cavities every 6 months.
Old fillings were drilled out and new ones put in. Now the new ones are beginning to be drilled out as they have developed cavities on the edges of the fillings. My kids had sealants and did not begin to have cavities until they reached 24 years of age (go figure). My dentist says he does not recommend sealants. My question is, can you get sealants around the fillings to protect what is left of my teeth? At the rate I am going my dentist will be rich and I will have no teeth left.

By: GC

GC — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:59:29 +0000

Actually, I have done a lot of research on sealants. Eight months ago, I took my 10 year old daughter to a new dentist who used a diagnodent to say she had cavities, then picked off the sealants left with a dental probe. He said he would have to fill the cavities using cavitiy detection dye, possibly down to the roots, although the xray didn’t show this. I went and had three other opinions. The two dentists with the “Diagnodents” all wanted to drill the two teeth (upper twenties and lower 40s readings on the two teeth with picked out sealants). Luckily, I found a dentist that does research that said that the “Possible” cavities were undetectable by xray or probe and evidence over ten year studies shows that even early dentinal cavities stopped progression with sealants. I think I’ll stick with sealants and avoid the scam of drilling into teeth with “questionable” cavities.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:19:06 +0000

Two dentist visits ago I asked if I could get sealants and the nurse told me that they dont really do sealants on older kids and adults, so I let it go. But she said that I still had the remains of three sealants. Then this past visit I found out I got my first two cavities. They were both in my very back molars in the pits of the teeth. I already got one filled and it was a terrible experience for me. I am getting the other one, which is supposedly worse, filed later this week. I strongly regret not fighting to get sealants again because as soon as I lost them I got my first two cavities. I have honestly been so upset for the last week now and can’t get it off my mind. When I went to get my filling I told them that I wanted sealants on my remaining teeth without fillings and they said I probably dont need them but I told them I want them regardless. And even though insurance won’t cover it, $47 a tooth is well worth it for me to never have a cavity again.

By: Getting adult dental sealants to prevent cavities and save money - Mind Your Decisions

Sun, 16 May 2010 23:09:21 +0000

[...] the time I was skeptical. I wrote an open-ended post about it should I get sealants to share my thoughts–I was surprised to see the 30+ comments it [...]