Dental Sealants

The chewing surfaces of the back teeth are not smooth. They are a landscape of narrow grooves and pits, and some of those grooves are narrower than a single toothbrush bristle. Food and bacteria settle in and stay there. This is why most cavities in children appear on molars rather than on the smooth surfaces a brush can actually reach.

A sealant closes those grooves off.

How sealants work

Dental sealants help prevent tooth decay by sealing the chewing surfaces of teeth and keeping bacteria from getting trapped in the grooves. The tooth is cleaned and dried, a conditioning gel prepares the enamel, and a thin resin coating is flowed into the grooves and hardened with a curing light. The surface becomes smooth enough to brush clean.

There is no drilling and no anesthetic. Sealing a tooth takes a few minutes.

Who should have them

Sealants are usually placed on the back teeth in children, ideally soon after the permanent molars come in — around age six for the first molars and age twelve for the second. Those first few years after eruption are when a molar is most vulnerable.

They may be placed on adults as well. If you have deep grooves, no decay in those teeth yet, and a history that suggests you are at risk, sealing them is a reasonable and conservative thing to do.

What to expect afterwards

Sealants wear over time, particularly if you grind. We check them at every recall visit and can repair or replace one in a single appointment if it has chipped or worn thin.

A sealant does not replace brushing, flossing, or fluoride — it protects one specific surface that a brush struggles to clean. Everything else still matters.