Dentistry New Technology New Technology

Dentistry New Technology

New Technology in Dentistry

According to Ellen S. Neuenfeldt, although most patients know that not eating sugar, using fluoride-containing toothpaste and drinking fluoride-containing tap water, accompanied regular brushing and flossing are all instrumental in the control of dental plaque, dental sealants have provided dental practitioners with an additional weapon in the war against cavities. Dental sealants are another line of defense for otherwise conscientious dental patients who have a genetic tendency towards having heavily grooved or pitted teeth. Unfortunately for these patients, one of the most common places for cavities to form is in small pits in the teeth. A sealant is "an organic polymer (resin) that flows into the pit or fissure, and bonds to the enamel surface," and seals off the pit (Neuenfeldt 2005:1). This can prevent bacteria from collecting in the depression and a subsequent, more difficult-to-fill cavity.

Unlike a filling, "the sealant procedure is esthetic, noninvasive, and performed without anesthetic," and can be performed by dental hygienists and assistants as well as dentists in many instances, depending on the regulations of the state (Neuenfeld 2005:1). Sealants are cheaper to perform than fillings, and "even when sealant material is worn or cracked away on the surface around the pit or fissure, the sealant in the deepest aspects of the pit or fissures can remain intact and provide continued protection for the tooth, without any additional surgery (Neuenfeld 2005:1).

As oral care improves overall, sealants will become more important to dental technology in the future and are increasingly becoming a part of regular patient care, even for the very young. Patients are less and less likely to wait to go to the dentist until they have a full-blown cavity, and if the potential for a cavity is found in one of the patient's teeth, the problem can be easily addressed before it becomes a problem. Some dental providers advise sealants as an excellent precaution for all individuals. "Children should receive sealants on permanent molars as soon as they erupt (about ages 6 and 12 years)" although they cannot be used on teeth with smooth surfaces (Saunders 2005).

However, there are still concerns about product safety. According to the product information from one of the sealant's own informational websites, in an article entitled "Resin Dental Sealants and Bisphenol a Oral Exposure," in 1996 concerns about the safety of dental sealants were raised by researchers University of Granada in Spain when they discovered detectable levels of bisphenol a (BPA) in the saliva of patients treated with dental sealants, although they later found that the highest reported exposure to BPA was still 50,000 times lower than levels that were poisonous to animals.