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My (dental hygienist) mother insisted that I get a sealant on my teeth when my permanent teeth came in, and to this day I’ve never had a cavity. Definitely doin
by derwiki 4y ago
My (dental hygienist) mother insisted that I get a sealant on my teeth when my permanent teeth came in, and to this day I’ve never had a cavity. Definitely doing the same for my kids.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- roundandround 4y agoI always wondered why the topic of sealants was always related to children and figured it was somehow only appropriate for teeth with an approaching end date. Are there any issues such as needing to reapply it every X years?
- Semaphor 4y agoNever heard of dental sealants before this. But from a cursory search, you can only use it on clean teeth, so no fillings or cavities.
- wbl 4y agoAs you get older your teeth have worn smoother so the pits being filled are less serious. I did have a failed sealant result in a compositing of the surface of one of my teeth.
- 4gotunameagain 4y agoSome sealants contain BPA derivatives though. I'd rather have cavities than xenoestrogens messing up my hormonal system, so any non resin sealant is a great step forward
- kranke155 4y agoSo what sealants are good/best ?
- 4gotunameagain 4y agoI am not qualified to say what is best, but glass ionomer cements (the ones without resin) do not contain plasticisers.
- throwboatyface 4y ago[flagged]
- CipherThrowaway 4y agoSurely exposure from composite resin falls off quickly over time and pales in comparison to our constant environmental exposure to plasticizers. Any data on this?
- nickff 4y ago“Surely” seems a bit over-confident unless you’ve seen some research, but it does seem likely.
- 4gotunameagain 4y agoSurely it is worth it minimising every single source identified
- rowanG077 4y agoNo it's really not. It like saying you want to maximize the amount of money you have. You don't suddenly stop eating. Because the utility of eating supersedes the cost (in this case literal money) of buying food. If the BPA derivative exposure in this sealant is low enough compared to usual daily exposure the benefit of having an effective sealant is too great to overlook. Let's say (for example)usual daily exposure is 1, the sealant adds 0.0000000000000001. Considering how devastating teeth problems can be this cost is a no brainer to pay.
- jcomis 4y agoSame here. My father was a dentist and insisted on sealant and maintained them until around 20. No cavities and almost 40.
- ben1040 4y agoDuring my bi-annual dentist visits they always mention the sealants on my teeth (maintained with the last touchup done when I was 16) and I'm sort of surprised they're largely intact. I'm 41 and haven't had a cavity since I was 13, on an adult tooth that I just missed my chance to get sealed before the cavity happened.
- giantg2 4y agoEh, I had sealant when my adult teeth came in. I still had a few cavities. My teeth naturally have very deep pits and fissures. Apparently that has some bearing on the likelihood of cavities. I wonder if that also effects the success of sealant application.
- dmarlow 4y agoI stopped getting cavities when I stopped rinsing all of the fluoride away after brushing my teeth. If you wish to rinse, do so after a few minutes. I told this to my dentist and he said he wished that was more common knowledge, yet he's never mentioned it to me. Go figure.
- colordrops 4y agoI stopped getting cavities when I started using fluoride-free toothpaste and filtered my water with reverse osmosis. But correlation is not causation and all, so it was probably due more to not eating sweets so much anymore, brushing and flossing properly and without fail twice a day, and maintaining a healthy immune system through sleep, exercise, and a good diet.
- azinman2 4y agoFluoride is effective at remineralizing your enamel. Fluoride isn’t just for cavities.
- MathMonkeyMan 4y agoWhat other uses does mineralized enamel have, aside from resisting attack by plaques? Honest question.
- azinman2 4y agoPlaque and tartar eat away at your enamel causing caries. Remineralizing is important to restore what has been taken away. So it’s not so much about resisting attack (I don’t believe fluoride fights bacteria) as much as reversing the attack.
- saurik 4y agoYou are much better off using nanohydroxyapatite for that, though; you can easily import such toothpastes from Japan via Amazon.
- hummus_bae 4y agoI never got sealants but did get fluoride treatment and brushing twice a day as a kid. I never had a cavity either and even as an adult I can maybe count the number of cavities I had on one hand. (And I brushed my teeth maybe once a day, don't judge me.) Honestly my diet played a huge role here, but the sealants, fluoride, and twice daily brushing just give you so much more protection than you could expect from brushing alone.
- WheatMillington 4y agoI don't floss, brush once per day and have never heard of sealant, and I also have zero cavities. n = 1
- btgeekboy 4y agoIt boils down to your dentist, too. Some will leap to drilling and filling every little speck they can find (and charge you for it), while others will monitor them and see if they progress. Having been to both types, I’d say I strongly prefer the latter.
- sdiupIGPWEfh 4y agoThe former makes me irrationally angry. Once you have fillings, it's apparently rather easy for more cavities to form right alongside them. As a teen, I had a dentist who drilled out every speck in a majority of my adult teeth. Since then, every cavity I've had for the rest of my adult life has been a cavity that formed adjacent to one of those fillings.
- lost_tourist 4y agoThat's weird, I was terrible at brushing my teeth as a teenager and have 4 or 5 mercury fillings from then, once I started being a bet more hygeine conscious in college I've not had a cavity since and that was 20 years ago.
- btgeekboy 4y agoI had the latter kind growing up. Moved away, and went to a dentist with a fancy name and close to my office. Huge mistake. I’ve lost track of how many they drilled. My mouth hasn’t been the same since. I have a new dentist now who’s much like my previous one. My advice to anyone with a new dentist - if your new dentist suggests a bunch of new fillings when your track record differs dramatically, get a second opinion!
- rexf 4y agoYup, sadly many of them (in greater Los Angeles area) tend to over "find" cavities so they can put money in their pocket. This is not ethical, but I've had different dentists do this and I simply left for another dentist.
- cvccvroomvroom 4y agoYep. I've had maybe 2 cavities in all of my life, from teeth where sealant dislodged. Didn't need teeth alignment until well into middle age.
- crossroadsguy 4y agoI stopped getting cavities once I started brushing twice (or at least before bed) and flossing. Yeah that’s all it took.
- sjtgraham 4y agoSame. I'm 38 and have never had a cavity or filling.